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Chasmanthium latifolium (Wild Oats) - A warm-season deciduous clumping grass that spreads slowly on short rhizomes with wide flat blue-green bamboo-like foliage rising in late winter to 2 to 3 feet tall with mature leaves up to 7 inches long that turn an attractive lighter yellow green color in late spring and summer. By mid-spring the foliage is topped with arching flowering stems to 3 to 4 feet tall holding nodding panicles of flattened silver green spikelets that resemble clusters of oats, and these dance gracefully in the wind. These seedheads mature in fall to a rich pale bronze color and turn a not unattractive soft grayish brown color during the winter.
Plant in full sun along coast, partial shade inland and water occasionally. In shade the foliage remains a darker green and plants require only infrequent irrigation. It is quite cold tolerant and can be used in USDA Zones 3 and above. Cut back from late fall to mid-winter to show off the fresh foliage that emerges in late winter. This is a very attractive grass planted in the garden or used in large pots. The flower stems are excellent in dried arrangements and the seed is eaten by birds and mammals. It has a rhizomatous root system and can form colonies it only spreads slowly and while it can reseed in California gardens that are regularly irrigated, it has never spread widely in a pesky way and the few seedlings produced can be removed or appreciate where they arose.
Chasmanthium latifolium is a North American grass that has an extensive native range from central Canada south through the central and eastern United State down to northeast Mexico where it is often found growing on shaded slopes, wooded areas and along streams. This grass was first described as Uniola latifolia in 1803 by the French botanist André Michaux but the name was changed in 1966 by the American botanist Harris Oliver Yates in his work "Revision of grasses traditionally referred to Uniola" who not only authored a new genus name for this and several other plants previously included in Uniola, but also moved them from the Cynodonteae tribe within the Poaceace family to the Centotheceae tribe. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'chasma' which mean "wide opening" or "yawn" and 'anthos' which means "flower" in reference to the broad flower spikelets or glumes that open like a mouth to expose the seed at maturity. The specific epithet means "broad-leaved". The most frequently used common name, Northern Sea Oats, is a bit of a misnomer and should not be used since this plant does not grow along the seashore like true Sea Oats, Uniola paniculata. Other common names include Inland Sea Oats, Indian Wood Oats, River Oats, Flathead Oats, Upland Oats, Upland Sea Oats and its most creative common name Fish-on-a-fishing-Pole, which creatively describes how the broad spikelets dance on the inflorescence.
We first got this attractive grass from John Greenlee (The Grassman) in 1988 and grew crops of it of it on and off since 1991 until 1997. We have plantings of it in the garden that were planted when we first got this grass, and these have not spread out and the planting always charms visitors to the garden. The image on this page from the Kew Plants of the World Online website.
The information about Chasmanthium latifolium displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
