Family: Poaceae
American millet grass, wood millet
[Milium effusum var. cisatlanticum L.]
Robert W. Freckmann
Emmet J. Judziewicz
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium (UWSP)
Etymology: Milium: ancient Latin name for millet, which belong to another genus; therefore of uncertain source
Plants: perennial grass
Plants: perennial grass
A beautiful grass of rich, mesic forests of sugar maple-basswood, sugar maple-white ash, sugar maple-yellow birch, oak-spruce-balsam fir, white cedar-balsam poplar, sugar maple-hemlock, oak-aspen, sugar maple-red oak, white cedar-white pine-birch, sugar maple-beech, mixed conifers. Also in swampy woods of black ash-red maple and white cedar-black ash. This species is found across northern Wisconsin extending south down the shore of Lake Michigan. There are disjunct populations in the Driftless Area where it grows in shady ravines, along streams, or in remnant tamarack swamps. Wood millet could be mistaken for a robust Dichanthelium or Panicum but differs in its strongly glaucous foliage and spikelets with equal glumes and only one floret (both Dichanthelium and Panicum have spikelets with unequal glumes, a single fertile floret, and a sterile lemma).
Floristic Rating: Coefficient of Conservatism = 7 USDA Plants Database: Federal Distribution and detailed information including photos Grasses of Iowa: Detailed photographs, descriptions, maps USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS): Images of seeds, fruits, embryos, etc. USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS): Images of seeds, fruits, embryos, etc.
Emmet J. Judziewicz
Botanical Illustration
Kurt Stüber
