Panicum virgatum
Switchgrass
Poaceae, the grass family
Coefficient of Conservatism = 4
Photo October 13, 2005 by Bob Klips at Ohio State-Marion
Swithchgrass is a tall warm-season grass with small single-flowered spikelets presented in open panicles.
Grasses are wind-pollinated, and thus lack colorful petals and sepals. Small green scale-like bract enclose the reproductive organs. When flowering takes place, there emerges large dangling stamens that release copious amounts of pollen into the air, and pollen-receptive stigmas that are plumose, thus able to capture the wind-borne pollen. The photo below shows both the anthers and the stigmas of switchgrass growing in a research plot on the OSU Columbus campus.
Photo July 30, 2010 by Bob Klips at Waterman Experiment Station in Columbus Ohio.