Culms stout, 1-2(-3) m, glabrous and glaucous, ±densely clustered on a hard, knotty base, only seldom somewhat scattered on more elongate rhizomes; blades firm, much elongate, to 50 cm נ12 mm; panicles slender, 1.5-4 dm, densely fld, with long subappressed primary branches, the secondary branches mostly paired or whorled, usually with tertiary and quaternary branches; pedicels capillary, appressed; spikelets glabrous, ovate, acuminate, 4-6 mm; glumes acuminate, the first one half to two-thirds the length of the spikelet, rather weakly 3- or 5-veined, the second one 5-9-veined; sterile lemma 7- or 9-veined; fr smooth, shiny, 2.4-3.6 נ1-1.5 mm, with a well developed caryopsis inside; 2n=36. Coastal beaches, usually in swale areas behind the foredunes; N.J. to Mex., seldom inland in N.C. and W.Va. (P. amarum ssp. a.) Hybridizes with no. 11 [Panicum virgatum L.]

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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