GENUS 17. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



35. Panicum dichotomum L. Forked Panic- 

 grass. Fig. 345. 



Panicum dichotomum L. Sp. PI. 58. 1753. 



P. barbulatum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 49. 1803. 



P. gravius Hitchc. & Chase, Rhodora 8: 205. 1906. 



Smooth and glabrous, or the lower nodes barbed. 

 Culms erect, i-2 tall, at first simple, later pro- 

 fusely dichotomously branched at about the middle ; 

 blades light green, widely spreading, generally 

 much narrowed toward the base, the primary ones 

 distant, 2'-$' long, 2"-$" wide, those of the branches 

 i' long or less, i"-i" wide, sometimes involute ; 

 primary panicle usually long-exserted, i'-2' long; 

 branches lax, spreading, bearing few spikelets; sec- 

 ondary panicles smaller, not exceeding the leaves, 

 their branches with very few spikelets; spikelets 

 about i" long, ellipsoid, glabrous. 



In woodlands and thickets, New Brunswick to Mich- 

 igan, Florida and Texas. May-Aug. 



36. Panicum lucidum Ashe. Bog Panic-grass. Fig. 346. 



P. lucidum Ashe, Journ. Mitch. Sci. Soc. 15: 47. 1898. 



Culms slender, smooth and glabrous, i$-3 long, 

 at length much elongated, dichotomously much 

 branched and declining. Sheaths smooth and gla- 

 brous, or the lower ones pubescent, one-half the 

 length of the internodes or less; ligule a short ring; 

 blades erect, smooth and glabrous on both surfaces, 

 lanceolate, principal nerves 5-7, the primary leaves 

 i'-2i' long, i "-5" wide, those on the branches ii' 

 or less long, concealing the small contracted pan- 

 icles; primary panicle loose and open, ii'-3' long, 

 its branches spreading or ascending, the lower i'-ii' 

 long; spikelets on elongated pedicels, scattered, i" 

 long, oval to obovate, the scales glabrous, the first 

 less than one-half as long as the spikelets. 



Sphagnum bogs and wet woods, New York and south- 

 ern New Jersey to Florida and Texas. June-Sept. Has 

 been confused with P. sphagnicola Nash. 



Panicum coerulescens Hack., of the southern states, 

 Bahamas and Cuba, differing by blue-green foliage and 

 erect culms, is recorded from New Jersey and Virginia. 



37. Panicum yadkinense Ashe. Spotted- 

 sheath Panic-grass. Fig. 347. 



Panicum dichotomum var. elatum Vasey, Bull. U. S. 

 Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 31. 1889. 



P. yadkinense Ashe, Journ. E. Mitch. Sci. Soc. 16 : 85. 

 1900. 



A glabrous perennial. Culms up to 3 tall, finally 

 somewhat branched; sheaths much shorter than the 

 internodes, usually white-spotted ; ligule less than 

 \" long; blades 3'-s' long, 2"-6" wide, glabrous; 

 panicle 3'-s' long, broadly ovate or oval, its branches 

 long, ascending; spikelets about li" long and i as 

 wide, acute, elliptic, glabrous, the second and third 

 scales longer than the fruiting scale. 



Moist woods and thickets, Pennsylvania to Georgia, 

 Illinois and Louisiana. June-Aug. 



Panicum roanokense Ashe, of the southern states, dif- 

 fering by erect leaf-blades, and smaller turgid, strongly 

 nerved spikelets, ranges north to Virginia. 



