Part 3, 1915] POACEAE) 



229 



52. Panicum tenerum Beyr.; Trin. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 3 2 : 



341. 1834. 



Panicum anceps sirictum Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 573. 1860. 



Plants in small tufts from a knotted crown, 40-90 cm. high, olivaceous; culms erect, stiff 

 and wiry, producing small, solitary panicles from the upper nodes or remaining simple, glab- 

 rous ; leaf-sheaths much shorter than the internodes, the upper glabrous, the lower sparsely to 

 copiously papillose-pubescent toward the summit with soft, spreading or reflexed hairs; blades 

 4-15 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide (the uppermost much reduced), erect, firm, drying involute at 

 least toward the summit, pilose on the upper surface toward the base, or the lower sometimes 

 on both surfaces; terminal panicles rather short-exserted, 3-8 cm. long, rarely more than 5 mm. 

 wide, the short, appressed, subracemose branches bearing rather crowded spikelets throughout 

 their length, the pedicels usually with a few long hairs at the summit; spikelets 2.2-2.8 mm. 

 long, 0.8-1 mm. wide, narrowly ovate, pointed; first glume clasping, half as long as the spikelet 

 or more, 1 -nerved, glabrous or obscurely strigose toward the summit; second glume and sterile 

 lemma equal, exceeding the fruit, 5-7-nerved, glabrous; fruit 1.7-1.8 mm. long, about 0.8 

 mm. wide. 



Type locality: Georgia. 



Distribution: Georgia to Texas; Bahamas, Cuba, and Porto Rico. 



Illustrations: Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 7: /. 46 (as P. stenodes); Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 

 15: /. 89. 



53. Panicum stenodoides Hubbard, Proc. Am. Acad. 49: 497. 



1913. 



Plants perennial, in dense tufts; culms erect, slender and wiry, glabrous or sparsely pilose 

 below the glabrous nodes, 20-40 cm. high, producing from the upper nodes slender leafless 

 panicle-bearing branches ; leaf -sheaths papillose or more or less papillose-pilose, the lowermost 

 bladeless, glabrous, in age fibrous; ligule membranaceous, about 0.3 mm. long; blades erect, 

 flat at base, involute toward the apex, 3-8 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, more or less papillose or 

 papillose-pilose, at least on the upper surface, sometimes glabrous; panicles short-exserted, 

 usually exceeded by the uppermost blade, about 1 cm. long, narrow, bearing 3-7 spikelets on 

 appressed scabrous pedicels, rarely with a few delicate hairs at the apex of the pedicels ; spikelets 

 2-2.1 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, turgid, attenuate at base, glabrous; first glume about half as 

 long as the spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, barely covering the fruit, 

 strongly nerved; fruit 1.7 mm. long, 0.8 mm. wide. 



Type locality: British Honduras. 



Distribution: British Honduras to Panama; also in Trinidad. 

 Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17: /. 62. 



A closely allied species, Panicum caricoides Nees, distinguished by the long stiff hairs at the 

 summit of the pedicels, is found from Trinidad to Brazil. 



54. Panicum stenodes Griseb. FL Brit. W. Ind. 547. 1864. 



Pan icu m Mans Spruce; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 548, as synonym. 1864. Not P. Mans Ell. 1816. 



Plants in small tufts, 25-50 cm. high, glabrous throughout; culms erect or reclining, very 

 slender and wiry, producing from the middle nodes slender branches about equaling the main 

 culm, both this and the branches bearing small, solitary or fascicled panicles from the upper 

 nodes; leaf-sheaths very short, about 1-2 cm. long; blades 1-4 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, the 

 upper often reduced to mere points, erect, firm, involute; panicles short-exserted, the lateral 

 often partly included, 1-2 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, subracemose; spikelets 1.4-1.6 mm. long, 

 about 0.7 mm. wide, elliptic, rather turgid; first glume about half the length of the spikelet, 

 blunt, nerveless or 1 -nerved; second glume and sterile lemma equal, scarcely exceeding the 

 fruit, 5-nerved; fruit 1.3 mm. long, 0.6 mm. wide. 



Type locality: Jamaica. 



Distribution: West Indies and Costa Rica to Brazil. 



Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. IS: /. 91. 



