BULLETIN 
OF THE 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. XL! New York, June, 1884. [No. 6. 
New Species of Grasses. 
By Geo. Vasey. 
Panicum Chapmani. — Culms tufted, i to 3 feet high, erect, slen- 
der, smooth, mostly simple ; leaves chiefly radical, often i foot or 
more in length, i to 2 lines wide, firm, often invokite Avhen dry, the 
sheaths narrow, shorter than the internodes of the culm, smooth, 
finely striate, sparingly ciliate on the margins: ligule a short ciliate 
nng; blade 6 to 12 inches long, attenuate-pointed, scabrous above, 
slightly ciliate below. Panicle 6 to 12 inches long, narrow, racemose, 
composed of 8 to 10 sessile spikes, which are approximate toward the 
apex, gradually becoming i to 2 inches distant, appressed, the upper 
ones about one-half inch long, the lower ones i inch or more, contain- 
ing from 3to 12 spikelets; the rhachis flexuous, triquetrous, scabrous, 
and terminated by a short bristle; there are frequently i to 3 secon- 
dary racemes from lateral peduncles, which are sometimes nearly as 
Jong as the terminal one. Spikelets i line long, first glume broad, 
obtuse, one-quarter or one-third as long as the spikelet, second glume 
7-nerved, as long as the flower, third glume 5-nerved, slightly exceed- 
ing the flower; flowering-glume ovate, acutish, finely striate; palet of 
equal length with its glume. 
This is the Panicum tenuicidmwn of Chapman's Flora, but is not 
the /^. tetmicitlmwn of Meyer, and I am unable to find it described. 
It 'is dedicated to the esteemed author of the Flora of the Southern 
States. 
Panicum Hallti. — Culms csespitose, i to 2 feet high, erect, 
smooth, simple or sparingly branched, each with about 4 light green, 
striate leaves, which are 3 to 6 inches long, and 2 to 3 lines wide; 
ligule a ciliate ring; sheaths smooth or somewhat pubescent. Panicle 
4 to 6 inches long, the branches erect spreading, mostly single, alter- 
nate and few flowered, the lower one 3 or 4 inches long and sub- 
divided, naked below; the rhachis smoothish, pedicels about as long 
^s the spikelets. Spikelets about one and one-half lines long, acute 
or acutish, very smooth, first glume broadly ovate, acutish, half as 
long as the spikelet, second glume ovate lanceolate, acute, 9-ncrved, 
one-quarter to one-third longer than the fertile flower, third glume 
(that of the sterile flower) 7- to 9-nerved, acute, equal to the second, 
and enclosing a palet half as long; flowerlng-glume a line long, oblong, 
obtuse, smooth and shining. 
. This is number 816 of E. Hall's Texas collection, distributed as P. 
Siganteum^ Scheele. It has since frequently been collected in Texas 
^'ind New Mexico. The spikelets resemble those of P. virgalum. 
J 
