Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Dichanthelium clandestinum (L.) Gould
Synonymy: Panicum clandestinum L.
Lower Taxa: none
Origin: Native
Habit: Perennial, rosette forming grass
Habitat: Moist to seasonally dry soils, meadows, roadside open woodlands 
Range: Found throughout New Jersey
Frequency: Frequent, found in every New Jersey County and physiographic region
Rank/Status: S5/G5
Wetland Status: FAC+
Flowering & Reproduction: Early Summer, June-early July, vernal panicles, autumnal panicles late July-September; spikelets mature within month of pollination
Comments: Deer tongue is one of New Jersey’s most common and identifiable rosette panic grasses. It is one of the Flora’s largest species, reaching 3/4 of a meter tall with large, broad dark grren cauline leaves. The plant can be confused with Dichanthelium latifolium and D. boscii, but stem (stiff hair), leaf (>10 cm) and size (up to 1 m) characters should distinguish deer tongue from the two other more diminutive woodland species. Deer tongue can be found in old fields, roadsdies, abandoned farm yards and similar disturbed habitat. When present, it often forms a dense near monotypic colony, something that is difficult to overlook.
Reference Specimen: Ocean Co., Brick Township, Joseph Arsenault # 1581, open moist stream bank of the Metedeconk River by township water treatment plant, Forge Pond Road, 7/1/1986.
Current distribution map reflects author, Chrysler herbarium specimens and Mary Hough, 1983.
JRA, 8/2013
