274 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [Volume 17 



175. Panicum portoricense Desv.; Hamilt. Prodr. 11. 1825. 



Panicum pauciciliatum Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 16: 87. 1900. 



Vernal culms cespitose, erect or geniculate at base, slender, stiff and wiry, 15-30 cm. high, 

 the internodes commonly reddish-purple, crisp-puberulent to nearly glabrous; leaf -sheaths 

 much shorter than the internodes, striate, glabrous or crisp-puberulent, usually ciliate; blades 

 firm, 2-5 cm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, ascending or spreading, glabrous to puberulent, ciliate near 

 the base; panicles 2-4 cm., rarely 6 or 7 cm. long, two thirds as wide, the flexuous branches 

 spreading or the lower reflexed, the pedicels and ultimate branchlets often directed toward the 

 under side; spikelets 1.5-1.6 mm. long, 1 mm. wide; first glume one third to half as long as the 

 spikelet, obtuse or truncate; second glume and sterile lemma puberulent, the glume shorter 

 than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 1.4 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, elliptic- obo void, obscurely 

 pointed. 



Autumnal culms ascending from a decumbent base, branching from all but the uppermost 

 node before the maturity of the primary panicles, the primary internodes often elongating, 

 the terminal joint with its panicle together with the internode below it often falling early, 

 thus giving the appearance of short culms branching at all the nodes characteristic of this 

 species; early branches about equaling these shortened primary culms, repeatedly branching, 



t 



the ultimate branchlets in fascicles toward the ends, the reduced blades spreading, involute- 

 pointed; winter rosette appearing late, not conspicuous. 



Type locality: Porto Rico. 



Distribution: North Carolina to Florida and eastern Texas; Cuba; Porto Rico. 



Illustration: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. IS: /. 303. 



176. Panicum lancearium Trin. Gram. Pan. 223. 1826. 



Panicum Nashianum Scribn. Bull, U. S. Dep, Agr. Agrost. 7: 79. 1897. 



Vernal culms cespitose, usually purplish, wiry, stiffly ascending from a more or less genic- 

 ulate base, 20-50 cm. high, minutely grayish crisp-puberulent; leaf-sheaths puberulent, at 

 least near the margin, much shorter than the internodes; blades ascending or spreading, firm, 

 2-6 cm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, puberulent or nearly glabrous beneath, usually glabrous on the 

 upper surface, strongly ciliate toward the base, or sometimes nearly to the apex; panicles 3-6 

 cm. long, two thirds as wide, rather few-flowered, the flexuous branches spreading, or the lower 

 reflexed; spikelets 2-2.1 mm. long, 1-1.2 mm. wide; first glume one third to half as long as the 



spikelet, obtuse or truncate ; second glume and sterile lemma puberulent or sometimes glabrous, 

 the glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 1.6-1.7 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, 

 ob ovate-elliptic, minutely puberulent at the apex. 



Autumnal culms geniculate-spreading, ascending at the ends, the stiff internodes occasion- 

 ally elongate, branching from the middle nodes, the branches much longer than the internodes, 

 late in the season bearing fascicles of short branchlets toward the summit, the reduced flat or 

 involute-pointed blades spreading, the ultimate panicles reduced to a few spikelets, partly 

 inclosed in the sheaths. 



Type locality: North America. 



Distribution: Virginia to Florida and Mississippi; Cuba; Santo Domingo. 

 Illustrations: Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 7: /. 61; Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. IS: /. 305 ; 

 Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. 3: App./. 264a; ed. 2./. 370. 



177. Panicum patulum (Scribn. & Merr.) Hjtchc. Rhodora 8: 209. 



1906. 



Panicum Nashianum patulum Scribn. & Merr. Circ. TJ. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 27: 9. 1900. 



Vernal phase densely cespitose, grayish-olive; culms geniculate-decumbent, ascending 

 at the ends, as much as 50 cm. long, the internodes and leaf-sheaths densely velvety-puberu- 

 lent, the latter usually ciliate on the margin, at least toward the summit; blades rather lax, 

 spreading, 4—8 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, tapering toward both ends, velvety- puberulent beneath, 

 softly pubescent on the upper surface, sometimes obscurely so, ciliate at least half their length ; 

 panicles as in P. lancearium, the spikelets more globular-pyriform than in that species, 1.3 mm. 

 wide, and nearly as thick; second glume and sterile lemma densely papillose-pubescent; fruit 

 1.8 mm. long, 1.1-1.2 mm. wide; otherwise as in P. lancearium. 



