Grasses: Panicum to Danthonia, Second Edition

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Mohlenbrock Southern Illinois University Press GRASSES Panicum to Danthonia Second Edition Robert H. Mohlenbrock The Illustrated Flora of Illinois Grasses: Panicum to Danthonia Cover illustration: Eragrostis hirsuta by Paul W. Nelson Printed in the United States of America Southern Illinois University Press 1915 University Press Drive Mail Code 6806 Carbondale, IL 62901 www.siupress.com isbn 0-8093-2360-5 isbn 978-0-8093-2360-9 Since the publication of the first edition of Robert H. Mohlenbrock’s Grasses: Panicum to Danthonia in 1973, twenty additional taxa of grasses have been discovered in Illinois that are properly placed in this volume. In addition, numerous nomenclatural changes have occurred for plants already known from the state, and many distributional records have been added. This second edition updates the status of grasses in Illinois. Paul W. Nelson has provided illustrations for all of the additions. Because the nature of grass structures is generally so different from that of other flowering plants, a special terminology is applied to them. In his introduction, Mohlenbrock cites these terms, with descriptions that make the identification of unknown specimens possible. Mohlenbrock’s division of the grass family into subfamilies and tribes is a major departure from the sequence usually found in most floristic works in North America. Synonyms that have been applied to species in the northeastern United States are given under each species. A description based primar-ily on Illinois material covers the more important features of the species. The common names—Panic Grass, Billion Dollar Grass or Japanese Millett, Thread Love Grass, and Goose Grass—are the ones used locally in the state. The habitat designation and dot maps showing county distribution of each grass are provided only for grasses in Illinois, but the overall range for each species is also given. The detailed drawings that accompany the descriptive material make this book essential to those seeking to broaden their knowledge of grasses. Robert H. Mohlenbrock taught botany at Southern Illinois University Carbondale for thirty-four years, retiring with the title of Distinguished Professor. He then joined Biotic Consultants as a senior scientist teaching wetland identification classes in twenty-six states to date. Mohlenbrock has been named SIU Outstanding Scholar and has received the SIU Alumnus Teacher of the Year Award, the AMOCO Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Meritorious Teacher of the Year Award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists. During his career at Southern Illinois University, ninety graduate students earned degrees under his direction. Since 1984, he has been a monthly columnist for Natural History magazine . Among his forty-four books and more than five hundred publications are Macmillan’s Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Field Guide to the U.S. National Forests, and Where Have All the Wildflowers Gone? Mohl_Grasses P-D cover.indd 1 6/27/12 9:39 AM ...