206 Rhodora [November 



puberuleiit; panicle long, exserted, 6-11 cm. long, as wide or wider, 

 the slender Hexuous })ranches fascicled, the lower spreading or <lroop- 

 ing at maturity, spikelet-bearing at the ends; s|)ikelets oval, 2 mm. 

 long, glabrous, first glume J-J as long as the spikelet, acute, l-nerved, 

 second glume and sterile lemma 5-7 nerved, ecpial, covering the fruit 

 at maturity; fruit elliptic, 1X1.8 mm., obscurely apiculate. Autum- 

 Uii\ state diffusely branched, forming very large top-heavy reclining 

 bunches, the slender branches recurved, the numerous flat blades 

 horizontally spreading. 



In the sim|)le state this species resembles large specimens of P. 

 (lirhofoviiim L., to which it is most nearly allied, but it is distinguished 

 in tluit state by wider blades, larger panicle with more droo|)ing 

 branches and by equal second glume and sterile lemma (rather more 

 strongly lUTved than in P. dichotomum), which cover the fruit at matur- 

 ity. In P. dichotomum the second glume is shorter and ex])oses the 

 fruit. In autumnal state P. gravius is readily distinguished by the 

 habit. 



Rocky or dry woods and hillsides, Connecticut to Michigan, south 

 to Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas. 



Type Chase 36:30 ; forming top-heavy tufts, in sandy, rather dry 

 woods, on the old (\)mmons farm, between Centreville and Mt. Cuba, 

 Delaware, July 30, 1906; collected by Agnes Chase. Deposited in 

 National Herbarium. 



Distribution: Connecticut: Meriden, BvtueJl 5579. Michigan: 

 Port Huron, Dodge in 1899; Michigan Agricultural College, Wh£eler 

 in 1900. Pennsylvania: Easton, Porter in 1895. Delaware: 

 Mt. Cuba, Comvums 296, Chase 3620. Maryland: Uiverdale, 

 Chase 3643. Distrust of Columbia: Washington, Hitchcock /.Vand 

 257. Vircinia: Marion, Small in 1892. North Carolina: Bilt- 

 more, liiltmore Herb. 800a. Georgia: Stone Mountain, Hitchcock 

 183. Missouri: Monteer, Bush 2877. Arkansas: Fulton, Bush 

 2')32. Mlssissiim'i: Saratoga, Tracy 8403. , 



Panicum praecocius Hitchc. &c Chase, sp. nov. 



( ijlms tufted, 15 to 25 cm. high in the simple state, early branching 

 and elongating, sometimes to 30-45 cm., at first erect, soon becoming 

 geniculate and spreading, very slender, wiry, abundantly pilose with 

 weak spreading hairs 3 4 mm. long; sheaths, even the lowest, nuich 

 shorter than the very long internodes, those of the branches usuallv 

 but 1-2 cm. long, pilose like the culm, more j^rominently ])apilIose; 

 blades rather firm, erect or ascending, 5-8 cm. long, 4-6 nun. wide, 

 those of the branches as large as the primary leaves, linear-oblong, 

 often somewhat involute toward the acuminate apex, scarcely nar- 



