Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Redtop panicgrass
Panicum rigidulum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Redtop panicgrass is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 983 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Redtop panicgrass at a glance
- Native in
- 983 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3.3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High 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.
Redtop panicgrass is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 983 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 983 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 13 counties
- Arkansas 49 counties
- California 5 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 63 counties
- Georgia 37 counties
- Illinois 51 counties
- Indiana 44 counties
- Kansas 18 counties
- Kentucky 49 counties
- Louisiana 56 counties
- Maine 8 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 6 counties
- Mississippi 41 counties
- Missouri 53 counties
- New Hampshire 6 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 28 counties
- North Carolina 78 counties
- Ohio 32 counties
- Oklahoma 13 counties
- Oregon 1 county
- Pennsylvania 47 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 37 counties
- Tennessee 48 counties
- Texas 60 counties
- Vermont 2 counties
- Virginia 76 counties
- West Virginia 21 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
- 3.3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 64 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 6 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
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PARI4
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
- Panicum rigidulum (PLANTS symbol PARI4), including 4 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- 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