Wildflower Wednesday: Dichanthelium clandestinum

When  I walk the rolling hills of this neighborhood I can still see pollinator friendly lawns in front of the 1950s ranch houses and the woodland remnants in the hills that surround the neighborhood. The lawns come alive in March when Claytonia virginica/Spring beauties bloom, followed by Salvia lyrata/Lyre leaf sage, Ruellia humilis/wild petunia, Carex/sedges, Danthonia spicata/poverty oat grass and other native witch grasses. I hope that enough of these lawns will be safe from the developers who are bull dozing the trees and the 1950 suburban ranches to the ground in order to build houses that fill almost the entire lot. They have replaced the pollinator friendly lawns with sod...Gone are the spring beauties, gone are the other pollinator plants and gone are the lightening bugs. Ignorance of the value of saving native, trees, grasses and plants are destroying the habitat of pollinators, birds, insects and mammals. That breaks my heart.

But, in my wild garden you will find many of those plants, along with our Wildflower Wednesday Star, Dichanthelium clandestinum. Deer-tongue grass is one of the witch/panic grasses that I've discovered happily growing  in damp spots in the garden. The unbranched leaves of early spring caught my eye and made identifying it easier.

Photo by Stephanie Brundage

Most of the various panic or witch grasses  are members of the Panicum or Dichanthelium genus. Many are hard to identify by this author. Deer-tongue grass is easily identified by its attractive silver flower heads that shimmer in the slightest breeze. The clasping leaves give the plant a bamboo like appearance and the foliage turns yellow-brown in autumn.  After a hard frost kills the fall stems and leaves, they are replaced by low winter rosettes of basal leaves. The winter rosettes of this plant make a good evergreen groundcover. The root system is rhizomatous and can form colonies. It's attractive and has good wildlife value....so it's a keeper! 

Deer tongue grass occurs in the eastern half of the US and a few states west of the Mississippi River. It prefers damp soil, so look for it in shady moist woodland areas, in moist sandy soil, in ditches, and along roadsides. The genus name comes from the Greek words di, meaning twice, and anth, meaning flowering, referring to plants that may have two flowering periods. The species name means hidden, referring to the tiny flowers that hide within the leaves. (source)

I like it for its looks and wildlife value. According to Illinois Wildflower dozens of birds eat the seeds, at least 5 different skipper larva feed on it and dozens of beetles and other insects feed on the leaves. The site has links to both bird and insect tables if you want more info.  When left standing in winter it provides shelter for birds and small mammals. Is grazed by mammals,  but isn't particularly nutritious for cattle.

The tiny flowers are produced on open, airy clusters called panicles and are nearly impossible to photograph

A Special Note:

 Imagine my surprise to discover that Deertongue actually has a cultivar! Tioga’ deertongue (Dichanthelium clandestinum (L.) Gould) is a cultivar released in 1975 in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, and Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. (source) Tioga was developed to be used for re-vegetating disturbed areas where site conditions limit the use of other species. It's quite adaptable! It tolerated droughty sites and can tolerate moist soils and streambanks. Apparently it's ability to lodge ( bend over and creates a mat) ) helps this cultivar spread.  The old stems and leaf parts form a layer of mulch that aids in seedling establishment and critter cover.

THE PARTICULARS

Botanical name: Dichanthelium clandestinum

Grass family (Poaceae)

Common name: Deertongue, Deer-tongue Witchgrass, Witch Grass 

Perennial cool season grass 

Inflorescence: A panicle that is typically 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches long and 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches broad. 

Leaf: Green 

Size: 24"

Bloom Time: May through Sept

Partial sun/shade (4-6 hrs light daily)

Hardiness Zones: Zone 4 to Zone 9

Range: Eastern US, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas. Also eastern Canada

 

Soil Preference: Clay, loam, sand, damp

Pollination: Early flowers are wind pollinated, later ones are self pollinating  

Landscape Uses: Massing, Natural garden, used to re-vegetate disturbed areas with infertile soils  

Comments: It's most attractive in the early spring when the silver flower heads shimmer in the slightest breeze. The clasping leaves give the plant a bamboo like appearance and the foliage turns yellow-brown in autumn. It's attractive and has good wildlife value. In the right conditions this grass can spread aggressively. 

Care: No known diseases or insect pests.

Wildlife Value: Dozens of birds eat the seeds, at least 5 different skipper larva feed on it and dozens of beetles and other insects feed on the leaves. When left standing in winter it provides shelter for birds and small mammals. Is grazed by mammals,  but isn't particularly nutritious for cattle.

PS. My dear readers, you might consider allowing our Wildflower star and other native grasses to grow in your garden or even in your lawn. Think of all the good you'll do for skippers and other critters. Seeds can be found online, so give them a try! xoxogail

 

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.