Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Needleleaf rosette grass
Dichanthelium aciculare
Needleleaf rosette grass is recorded as native to 16 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 363 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Needleleaf rosette grass at a glance
- Native in
- 363 counties, across 16 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7b PLANTS minimum temperature 2°F
- Mature height
- 1.6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 7b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 2°F; zone 7b winters bottom out at 5°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Needleleaf rosette grass is recorded as native to 16 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 363 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 363 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 11 counties
- Arkansas 18 counties
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 53 counties
- Georgia 26 counties
- Kentucky 9 counties
- Louisiana 42 counties
- Maryland 5 counties
- Mississippi 15 counties
- New Jersey 3 counties
- North Carolina 47 counties
- South Carolina 24 counties
- Tennessee 19 counties
- Texas 59 counties
- Virginia 30 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1.6 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 2°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 7b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 200
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Yellow
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- DIAC
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Dichanthelium aciculare (PLANTS symbol DIAC).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources