240 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [Volume; VI 



shorter than the internodes, ciliate; blades thin, lax, flat, 5-20 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, some- 

 what narrowed toward the base, gradually narrowed to the acuminate apex, glabrous; panicles 

 finally exserted, 5-30 cm. long, about as wide, diffuse, small panicles often produced at the 

 lower nodes, at least the ultimate branchlets scabrous, the branches mostly solitary, the branch- 

 lets bearing a few short-pediceled spikelets, mostly in twos, toward the ends; spikelets 1.8-2.1 

 mm. long, about 1 mm. wide, elliptic-obovate, subacute; first glume one fourth the length of 

 the spikelet or less; second glume and sterile lemma warty, glabrous, the glume shorter than 

 the fruit at maturity; fruit 1.8-2 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, elliptic, acute. 



Type locality: New Jersey. 



Distribution : Massachusetts to Florida, and west to Texas ; northern Indiana. 

 Illustrations: Bull. Tenn. Bxp. Sta. 7: pi. 11, f. 42; Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 7: /. 49; 

 Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. 121; Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl./. 278; ed. 2./. 313. 



83. Panicum brachyanthum Steud. Syn. Gram. 67. 1854. 



Panicum sparsijlorum Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 36. 1889. Not P. sparsifiorum Doell, 

 1877. 



Plants weakly ascending or spreading from a decumbent base, freely branching from the 

 lower nodes; culms slender, 30-100 cm. high; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, 

 minutely ciliate; blades 5-15 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, narrowed toward the base, often 

 involute and scabrous toward the apex, the uppermost usually reduced; panicles finally ex- 

 serted, 5-15 cm. long, about as wide, the branches few, scabrous, the lower sometimes as much 

 as 10 cm. long, bearing a few short-pediceled spikelets, mostly in twos, toward the ends; spike- 

 lets 3.2-3.6 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, elliptic-obovate, abruptly pointed; first glume minute; 

 second glume and sterile lemma subequal, the tubercles bearing stiff, spreading hairs; fruit 2.9-3 

 mm. long, 1.4 mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, subacute. 



Type locality: Texas. 



Distribution: Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. 



Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. 123. 



84. Panicum pyrularium Hitchc. & Chase, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 



17: 508. 1915. 



Plants annual; culms delicate, 10-13 cm. high, at first erect and simple, finally decumbent 

 and branching, often rooting at the nodes, more or less zigzag, sometimes elongating to 25 or 

 30 cm.; nodes sparsely pilose or glabrous; leaf -sheaths shorter than the blades, glabrous or 

 sparsely pilose; ligule membranaceous, about 0.5 mm. long; blades thin, flat, spreading, 1-3 

 cm. long, 2-7 mm. wide (the lower sometimes smaller), narrowly elliptic, somewhat clasping 

 at base, obtuse or acutish at the apex, scabrous on the margins, glabrous or sparsely pilose on 

 both surfaces, sometimes glaucous; panicles terminating the culm and branches, loose and 

 open, 2-5 cm. long, about as wide, oval or pyramidal in outline, the delicate flexuous branches 

 and branchlets spreading or reflexed, smooth, the capillary divaricate pedicels several times 

 longer than the spikelets; spikelets 1.5 mm. long, 0.6 mm. wide, turgid, pyriform, long-attenuate 

 at base, glabrous; first glume about half as long as the spikelet, acute; second glume and sterile 

 lemma 5-nerved, not exceeding the fruit, the glume slightly shorter than the sterile lemma; 

 fruit 1 mm. long, 0.5 mm. wide, turgid. 



Type locality: Province of Chiriquf, Panama. 

 Distribution: Panama to Venezuela. 

 Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17: /. 95. 



85. Panicum trichoides Sw. Prodr. 24. 1788. 



Panicum capillaceum Lam. Tab. Encyc. 1: 173. 1791. 



Panicum acutifolium Willd.; Spreng. Syst. 1: 320, as synonym. 1825. 



Panicum capillaceum strictius Doell, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 2 : 249. 1877. 



Plants often widely spreading; culms ascending from a decumbent base, the ascending 

 portion 20-40 cm. high, rather slender, leafy, pubescent; leaf-sheaths short, but sometimes 

 overlapping toward the summit and on the branches, ciliate and papillose-hirsute, at least 

 toward the summit; ligule membranaceous-ciliate, scarcely 0.5 mm. long; blades spreading, 

 thin, 2-6 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, somewhat asymmetric, acuminate, 

 cordate and somewhat clasping at the ciliate base, glabrous or sparsely hirsute on both surfaces; 

 panicles oval or ovate in outline, 5-20 cm. long, nearly as wide, the axis sparsely pilose, the 



