Part 3, 1915] POACBAE 



281 



193. Panicum Ashei T. G. Pearson; Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell 



Soc. 15: 35. 1898. 



Panicum umbrosum I^Conte; Torn Cat. PI. N. Y. 91. 1819. Not P. umbrosum Retz. 1786. 



Vernal plants usually conspicuously purplish, in loose clumps of few to several culms from 

 a knotted crown; culms 25-50 cm. high, erect, stiff and wiry, densely crisp-puberulent, in- 

 cluding the nodes ; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, less densely puberulent, short- 

 ciliate; ligule obsolete; blades usually thick and firm, spreading or ascending, 4-8 cm. long, 

 5-10 mm. wide (the lower gradually smaller), acuminate, ciliate at the subcordate base and 

 sometimes along the very scabrous margin, glabrous on both surfaces; panicles finally long- 

 exserted, 5-8 cm. long, hardly as wide, loosely flowered, the branches usually in distant fascicles, 

 ascending or spreading; spikelets 2.4-2.7 mm. long, 1.2-1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse 

 or obscurely pointed, short-pubescent; first glume about one third the length of the spikelet, 

 subacute; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, slightly exposing the fruit at maturity, 

 obtuse or withering to a point; fruit 2.1 mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate. 



Autumnal phase erect or topheavy-reclining, the culms bearing divergent branches from 

 the middle and upper nodes or from the upper only, the terminal joint of the primary culm 

 commonly falling, the sheaths crowded or overlapping, the blades rigid and widely spreading, 

 little reduced except those of late autumn; winter rosette appearing early, the blades thick 

 and firm, usually prominently ciliate nearly to the apex. 



Typb locality: Ithaca, New York. 



Distribution: Massachusetts to Michigan, and south to Florida and Mississippi. 



Illustrations: Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. 342; Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. ed. 2./. 381. 



194. Panicum commutatum Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 2: 



242. 1824. 



Panicum nitidum majus Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 67. 1814. 



Panicum nervosum Muhl.; EH. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 122. 1816. Not P. nervosum Lam. 1797. 



Panicum Enslini Trin. Gram. Pan. 230. 1826. 



? Panicum cordifolium Desv. Opusc. 88 [90]. 1831. 



Panicum polyneuron Steud. Syn. Gram. 91. 1854. 



Panicum commutatum minus Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 34. 1889. 



Panicum commutatum latifolium Scribn.; Kearney, Bull. Torrey Club 20: 476. 1893. 



Panicum commelinaefolium Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 29. 1898. Not P. commelinae- 



folium ,Rudge, 1 805 . 

 Panicum Currani Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 113. 1899. 

 Panicum subsimplex Ashe, Bull. N. Car. Exp. Sta. 175: 115. 1900. 



Vernal plants commonly purple-tinged; culms in clumps of few to many, 40-75 cm. high, 

 rather stout, erect, glabrous or sometimes softly (not crisp) puberulent; nodes puberulent; 

 leaf -sheaths shorter than the long internodes, ciliate on the margin and with a densely puberu- 

 lent ring at the summit, otherwise glabrous, or puberulent between the nerves ; ligule nearly 

 obsolete; blades usually firm, spreading or ascending, 5-12 cm. long, 12-25 mm. wide, the 

 lower and upper smaller than those of the midculm, rather abruptly tapering to an acuminate 

 apex and slightly narrowed to the cordate-clasping base, glabrous on both surfaces or puberu- 

 lent beneath or sometimes also above, the margin ciliate at the base; panicles usually long- 

 exserted, 6-12 cm. long, as wide or wider, loosely flowered, the axis glabrous or nearly so, the 

 flexuous branches spreading; spikelets 2.6-2.8 mm. long, 1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, 

 softly pubescent; first glume about one fourth the length of the spikelet, triangular, acute or 

 obtuse; second glume and sterile lemma barely covering the fruit at maturity; fruit 2.2-2.3 

 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate. 



Autumnal phase erect or leaning, branching from the middle nodes, the portion of the 

 primary culm above the uppermost branch commonly falling away, leaving the branch, with 

 its shortened internodes, crowded, rather loose sheaths, scarcely or not at all reduced blades, 

 and hardly exserted panicle, at the apparent termination of the primary culm; secondary 

 branchlets crowded toward the summit, the reduced blades exceeding the partly included, 

 much reduced panicles; winter rosette appearing rather early, the blades firm, ovate. 



Type locality: South Carolina. 



Distribution- Massachusetts to Michigan, and south to Florida and eastern lexas. 

 Illustrations: Bull. Tenn. Exp. Sta. 7: pi. 13, f. 50; Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: /. 344; 

 Britt. & Brown. 111. Fl. /. 255; ed. 2. /. 382. 



