/ 
HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 301 
Primary panicles short-exserted; sheaths not mot- 
Ce 187. P. equilaterale. 
Blades lanceolate. 
Culms crisp-puberulent; blades usually rigid, sym- 
metrical, rarely over 10 mm. wide; spikelets 
about 2.5 mm. long..............-2.-2-2-2.-.---- 183. P. ashei. 
Culms glabrous or softly puberulent; blades firm or 
lax; spikelets 2.7 to 3.2 mm. long. 
Culms erect, or autumnal form leaning; blades 
symmetrical, broadly cordate...........-- 184. P. commutatum. 
Culms decumbent; blades usually unsymmetrical 
and falcate, narrowed to the scarcely cor- 
date base. ........22..22--222-222------ 186. P. joorii. 
183. Panicum ashei Pearson. 
Panicum umbrosum LeConte in Torr. Cat. Pl. N. Y. 91. 1819, not Retz. 1786. On 
page 19 of this work the locality is given as, ‘‘In woods, Bloomingdale, N. Y.’? The 
type, in the Torrey Herbarium, consists of two vernal culms. On the same sheet is 
mounted a piece of a culm of P. dichotomum. On the label is written ‘‘ Panicum 
umbrosum mihi” in LeConte’s hand, to which is added in Torrey’s hand, ‘‘(Le 
Conte).’? The description as given by LeConte does not apply to this specimen in 
all respects. The culm and flowers are said to be glabrous, which is true of the speci- 
men of P. dichotomum, but the other characters apply better to the two culms of 
P. ashet. 
Panicum ashet Pearson; Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15:35. 1898. “P. com- 
mutatum Schultes var. minor Vasey, Contrib. from U.8. Nat. Herb., vol. 3, No. I: 32 
(1892). Not P. capillare var. minus Mubl. (1817).”’ It would appear from this cita- 
tion that P. ashei was intended as a change of name, but “‘sp. nov.”’ follows the author’s 
name, preceding the above citation, and a description ® given. Hence the synonym @ 
may be regarded as an error and the first specimen cited, ‘‘New York: Ashe; Ithaca, 
July 1898,’’ may be taken as the type. This specimen could not be found in Ashe’s 
herbarium, but there is a duplicate in the National Herbarium sent by Ashe, and 
labeled in his writing ‘‘ Panicum Ashei, G. Pearson, Dry woods, Ithaca, N.Y. W. W. 
Ashe, July 1898.’’ This consists of two vernal plants beginning to branch, with 
mature primary panicles; the culms and blades are less rigid than usual for this 
species. In the description the culms and sheaths are said to be glabrous, but in this 
specimen the culms and sheaths are crisp-puberulent. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Vernal plants usually conspicuously purplish, in loose clumps of few to several culms 
from a knotted crown; culms 25 to 50 cm. high, erect, stiff and wiry, densely crisp- 
puberulent, including the nodes; sheaths shorter than the internodes, less densely 
puberulent, short-ciliate; ligules obsolete; blades usually thick and firm, spreading 
or ascending, 4 to 8 cm. long, 5 to 10 mm. wide (the lower gradually smaller), acumi- 
nate, ciliate at the subcordate base and sometimes along the very scabrous margin, 
glabrous on both surfaces; panicles finally long-exserted, 5 to 8 cm. long, hardly as 
wide, loosely flowered, the branches usually in distant fascicles, ascending or spread- 
ing; spikelets 2.4 to 2.7 mm. long, 1.2 to 1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse or 
obscurely pointed, short-pubescent; first glume about one-third the length of the 
spikelet, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, slightly exposing the 
fruit at maturity, obtuse or withering to a point; fruit 2.1 mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, 
elliptic, minutely umbonate. 
a See synonymy under P. commutatum, page 304. 
