Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Deertongue
Dichanthelium clandestinum
Deertongue is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 808 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Deertongue at a glance
- Native in
- 808 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Deertongue is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 808 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 808 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 5 counties
- Arkansas 18 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 2 counties
- Georgia 10 counties
- Illinois 73 counties
- Indiana 56 counties
- Kansas 10 counties
- Kentucky 61 counties
- Louisiana 4 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 20 counties
- Mississippi 7 counties
- Missouri 62 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 48 counties
- Ohio 59 counties
- Oklahoma 6 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 15 counties
- Tennessee 43 counties
- Texas 3 counties
- Vermont 9 counties
- Virginia 86 counties
- West Virginia 39 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
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Not recorded
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- DICL
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 clandestinum (PLANTS symbol DICL).
- 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