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Dichanthelium is a genus of plants in the grass family (Poaceae) composed of about 72 species of caespitose, sometimes rhizomatous, perennials. The genus is widespread throughout a large region of the Americas and its various species occur in a wide variety of diverse terrestrial habitats. Dichanthelium has only modest economic value but its various species sometimes have significant ecological functions. It is superficially similar to the grass genus Panicum but is well distinguished from Panicum by numerous morphological characteristics and Dichanthelium appears as a separate clade in phylogenetic molecular analyses.

Geographic Range
Brown and Smith, state that Dichanthelium species are:

except for the Hawaiian section Turfosa, all American, ranging from southern Canada in North America to central Argentina, a latitudinal range of about 90 degrees. The center of most abundance of plants and species is southeastern United States, but they are common in the eastern Americas from New England to northern South America, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. They extend in small numbers to the Pacific coast of the United States and to Argentina.

In addition to the geographic range as listed above, four species are endemic to Hawaii and the genus has escaped from cultivation and grows wild in various regions of Europe, Russia , and China.