236 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [Volume 17 



than the internodes, the upper approximate, all spikelet-bearing to the base, the short-pediceled 

 spikelets in crowded clusters, not secund, along a slender scabrous rachis; spikelets about 2 mm. 

 long and 0.8 mm. wide, acute, somewhat inflated and gaping; first glume about one fourth the 

 length of the spikelet, subacute, 3-nerved; second glume and sterile lemma equal, pointed, 

 slightly exceeding the fruit, 3-5-nerved, the lemma inclosing a large palea and abortive perfect 

 flower; fruit 1.9 mm. long, 0.6 mm. wide, minutely scabrous at the acute apex. 



Type locality: Campo Alegre, Porto Rico. 



Distribution: Porto Rico. 



Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17: /. 76. 



71. Panicum exiguiflorum Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 234. 1866. 



Panicum minutiflorum A. Rich, in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 305. 1850. Not P. minutiflorum Rasp. 

 1825. 



Panicum laxum variegatum Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 233. 1866. 

 Panicum tricolor Hack. Oesterr. Bot. Zeits. 51: 370. 1901. 



Plants perennial, cespitose, sometimes sending out prostrate, stolon-like shoots; culms 

 simple or sparingly branching from the upper nodes, erect from a decumbent or ascending base, 

 slender, wiry, 15-50 cm. high, the lower nodes geniculate; leaf -sheaths much shorter than the 

 elongate internodes, ciliate, otherwise glabrous; ligule membranaceous, delicate, fimbriate; 

 blades appressed or ascending, 2-6 cm. long, 0.5-1.5 mm. wide, glabrous; panicles 3-10 cm. 

 long, one third to half as wide, the slender branches few, spreading or reflexed at maturity, bear- 

 ing short, divergent branchlets with clustered, short-pediceled spikelets; spikelets 1.4—1.5 mm. 

 long, about 0.5 mm. wide, and twice as thick; first glume about one third the length of the spike- 

 let, 3-nerved; second glume about two thirds the length of the subequal sterile and fertile florets, 

 the sterile palea very large and firm at maturity, much expanding the spikelet; fruit 1.3 mm. 

 long, 0.5 mm. wide, acute. 



Type locality: Cuba. 

 Distribution: Bahamas and Cuba. 

 Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. 110. 



72. Panicum hians Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 118. 1816. 



Panicum oblongifiorum Desv. Opusc. 89. 1831. 



Panicum jejunum Trin. Mem. Acad. St.-Petersb. VI. 4 2 : 103. 1836. 

 Aira incompleta Bosc; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 45, as synonym. 1840. 



Sleinchisma hians (Raf.; B. D. Jackson, Ind. Kew. 2: 982, as synonym. 1895.) Nash, in Small, 

 FJ. SE. U. S. 105. 1903. 



Plants perennial, cespitose; culms simple or sparingly branching, 20-60 cm. high, erect or 

 a few of the outer ones geniculate and rooting at the lower nodes, sometimes prostrate and 

 sending up erect branches; leaf-sheaths usually much shorter than the internodes, keeled, 

 glabrous; ligule about 0.5 mm. long; blades 5-15 cm. long, 1-5 mm. wide, usually scarcely 

 wider than the sheaths, erect, fiat or folded, pilose on the upper surface near the base, otherwise 

 glabrous; panicles 5-20 cm. long, usually loose and open, the primary branches few, slender, 

 distant, spreading or drooping,[sometimes rather narrow and compact, with ascending branches, 

 the branchlets borne along the upper half or toward the ends only, the short-pediceled spikelets 

 in more or less secund clusters; spikelets 2.2-2.4 mm. long, about 0.8 mm. wide and. twice as 

 thick at maturity, rather strongly nerved; £rst glume about half the length of the spikelet, 

 acute; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, slightly exceeded by the enlarged, indurated 

 sterile palea; fruit 1.8-1.9 mm. long, 0.7 mm. wide, the margins of the lemma scarcely inrolled. 



Type) locality: Charleston, South Carolina. 



Distribution: North Carolina to New Mexico, and south to Florida and Vera Cruz. 

 Illustrations: Bull. Tenn. Exp. Sta. 7: pi. 11, f. 41; Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 7: /. 48 

 (as P. melicarium); Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. Ill; Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl./. 247; ed. 2./. 388. 



Steinchisma was recognized as a valid genus by Nash in the key to the genera of Paniceae on 



page 145. 



73. Panicum cupreum Hitchc. & Chase, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: 



120. 1910. 



Panicum hians purpurascens Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1891: 296. 1891. Not P. purpurascens 

 H, B. K. 1815. 



Plants perennial, in small tufts; culms simple, erect, 40-60 cm. high, slender, wiry, glabrous; 

 leaves somewhat clustered at the base, their sheaths keeled, glabrous, the lower overlapping. 



