28 GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 
OLD WITCH GRASS 
Pénicum capillare, L. 
oe English names: Tumbleweed Grass, Tickle Grass, Witch’s 
air. 
Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: Late August to November. : 
Range : Nova Scotia to British Columbia, southward to Florida and 
exico. 
Habitat: Sandy soil; fields and waste places. 
Culms stout, erect, or with decum- 
bent base, branched and spreading, 
one to two feet in height. Sheaths 
very hairy, the blades somewhat less 
so, the latter a quarter-inch to 
nearly an inch wide and six inches 
to a foot long. Panicles very large 
and spreading, the terminal one often 
more than a foot long, the branch- 
lets hair-like, the spikelets very 
small, containing one tiny, shining 
grayish brown seed. When mature, 
the branches become very stiff and 
brittle and the large panicles break 
away and are driven before the 
winds for long distances, often 
piling in thick windrows against 
"ih fences. In these journeys the seed- 
\) \ bearing, hair-like but brittle branch- 
hi a lets are broken from the stalks and 
me the ground over which the tumblers 
Fig. 6.— Old Witch Grass (Pan- roll is well seeded. In good sod the 
_ teum capillare). X 4. seed seldom “catches,” but on 
stubbles and cultivated ground the plant is a troublesome weed. 
(Fig. 6.) 
Means of control 
Prevent seed production by mowing, hoe-cutting or hand-pulling 
while in bloom or before. 
