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Dichanthelium lanuginosum
Also called Peat Grass
Woolly Panicgrass is a North American perennial grass that forms tufts from a rosette, mostly found in open, dry sites across the central and eastern United States. It is rarely grown in gardens; the notable variety D. lanuginosum var. thermale tolerates hot geothermal soils, so keep it on dry, well-drained ground rather than rich, wet soil.
Dichanthelium lanuginosum is a species of rosette grass native to North America. It is most common in the central and eastern United States. It is found in a variety of habitats, mostly in open, dry areas.
A variety, D. lanuginosum var. thermale, grows in geothermal areas of Yellowstone National Park, United States. It is able to withstand high temperatures and high acidity in its rhizosphere. In 2007 it was found that the heat tolerance is conferred to the grass by a symbiosis between a fungus and a virus. When it is colonised by the fungus Curvularia protuberata and the fungus is in turn colonised by a particular virus, the grass is able to tolerate soil temperatures of up to 65 °C that would otherwise be lethal. Due to the distinctiveness and isolation of this taxon, it is sometimes considered to be a separate species: Dichanthelium thermale.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dichanthelium lanuginosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
