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Vine mesquite

Scientific Name:  Panicum obtusum
Common Name:  vine mesquite

Morphological Characteristics:

Habit- native, warm-season perennial grass, 8-24 inches tall; initiates growth in April to May; reproduces by seed, tillers, stolons, and rhizomes.
Inflorescence – panicle 1-1/4 to 6 inches long; 3/16 – ½ inch wide; branches erect, distant, usually unbranched
Spikelets – 2 florets, spikelet obovate, 1/8 – 5/32 inches long, glabrous, brown at maturity; upper floret indurate, glabrous, brownish
Awns – glumes, lemmas, and paleas awnless
Glumes – first and second glume nearly as long as spikelet, apex of both obtuse
Culms – erect, 8-24 inches tall, from a knotty or rhizomatous or stoloniferous base
Leaves – sheaths rounded with glandular papilla-based hairs; collar hairy, sometimes pilose on margins; blades firm, 2-8 inches long, 1/16 – 5/16 inch wide
Ligules – membranous, 1/32 – 1/16 inch long, apex erose
Other – The stolons of this grass may grow several feet long and have swollen woolly nodes. The brownish, round seeds lie close to the main seed stem forming a narrow seedhead. Often one leaf clings closely to the seedhead. Photo courtesy of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Habitat and Range: sandy or gravelly or clayey soils in areas of moisture accumulation. Texas distribution: throughout the state except MLRA 133B – Western Coastal Plain

Conservation Use:

Why collect this plant? Texas Plant Materials Centers have identified this plant as having potential benefits to the following conservation practice standards: 342 Critical Area Planting; 550 Range Planting; 647 Early Successional Habitat Development/Management; 391 Riparian Herbaceous Cover; 327 Conservation Cover; Your assistance in collecting this plant helps support the NRCS conservation practice standards which are employed daily to conserve the natural resources of Texas!

Centers Requesting Seed:

James E. “Bud” Smith Plant Materials Center

How to Collect Seed:

  1. Identify native plant stands in your area. You can go to the following websites for helpful photos http://plants.usda.gov or http://www.noble.org/webapps/plantimagegallery/ or www.wildflower.org
  2. Determine if seed is mature. Mature seed is typically dry and will easily separate from the seed head.
  3. Hand strip mature seed by grasping the bottom of the seed head then gently pulling away from the base of the plant. Deposit seed in a brown paper sack. Collect seed from a minimum of 30 to 50 plants.
  4. Label each collection as it is made so collections do not get mixed up. Information required includes: Collector’s name, number of plants collected, location (parish, city, highway, and GPS coordinates), site description (soil type, slope, and plants growing in association).
  5. Complete NRCS-ECS-580; Plant Collection Information Form and mail with collected seeds to the NRCS Plant Materials Center requesting the species.

Refer to the Plant Material Collection Guide for more information on making plant collections.

For More Information

USDA-NRCS
James E. “Bud” Smith Plant Materials Center
3776 FM 1292
Knox City, TX 79529-2514

Helpful Tips:

Look for vigorous, superior plants that display differences in color, height, and/or forage abundance and record observations. Differences in growing site or location should be made into separate collections if they are more than one mile apart.

Photos:

Vine mesquite
 

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NRCS Species for Plant Collections 2008 - Vine mesquite (PDF; 90 Kb)