This is widespread from southeastern states to Central America. Hairier plants have been called Panicum xalapense H.B.K., but that does not seem to be a significant segregate (FNA 25). D. laxiflorum is a remarkably distinct species (for a Dichanthelium), and it appears to be sister to the large acuminatum complex,(with nested groups) based on analysis of DNA (Majure et al. 2023).