MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



631 



minutely pubescent toward the summit. Autumnal phase decumbent 

 or finally prostrate-spreading, divaricately branching from all the 

 nodes, the branches slender, elongate. % _ — Edges of cypress 

 swamps, in sphagnum bogs, and in similar moist shady places, south- 

 ern Georgia and Florida. 



7. Spreta. — Culms tufted, rather stiff, mostly glabrous or nearly so; 



ligules densely hairy, 2 to 5 mm long; blades mostly firm ; spikelets 



5- to 7-nerved, mostly pubescent. Autumnal culms with rather 



short-tufted branchlets and greatly reduced leaves and panicles. 



38. Panicum spretum Schult. (Fig. 1335.) Vernal culms 30 to 90 



Figure 1334. — Panicum sphagnicola. 

 Two views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. 

 (Type.) 



Figure 1335.— Panicum spretum. 

 Two views of spikelet, and floret, 

 X 10. (Type.) 



cm tall, erect; sheaths glabrous; ligule 2 to 3 mm long; blades firm, 

 ascending to reflexed, 4 to 8 mm wide, sparingly ciliate around the 

 base; panicle 8 to 12 cm long, the branches ascending or appressed; 

 spikelets about 1.5 mm long, elliptic, rarely glabrous. Autumnal 

 phase mostly rechning, the early branches elongate, the subsequent 

 branches in short fascicles. Qi — Wet 

 usually sandy soil, Coastal Plain, Nova 

 Scotia to Texas; Indiana (fig. 1336). 



39. Panicum lindheimeri Nash. 

 (Fig. 1337.) Vernal culms ascending 

 or spreading, 30 to 100 cm tall, the 



lower inter- 

 nodes and 

 sheaths some- 

 times a seen d- 

 i n g-pubescent ; 

 ligule 4 to 5 mm 

 long; blades 6 

 to 8 mm wide, 

 glabrous; pani- 

 cle 4 to 7 cm long, about as wide ; spike- 

 lets 1.4 to 1.6 mm long, obovate. Au- 

 tumnal phase usually stiffly spreading 



Or radiate-prostrate, with elongate in- Figure 1337.— Panicum lindheimeri. Plant, 



ternodes and tufts of short appressed * & ^chale 4449?MiS elet ' and °° ret ' 

 branches; blades involute-pointed, 



often conspicuously ciliate at base. % — Dry sandy or sterile woods 

 or open ground, Quebec and Maine to Minnesota, south to northern 

 Florida and New Mexico; California (fig. 1338). 



40. Panicum leucothrix Nash. (Fig. 1339.) Vernal phase light 

 olive green; culms 25 to 45 cm tall, erect or ascending, appressed papil- 

 lose-pilose, the nodes pubescent; sheaths papillose-pilose; ligule 3 mm 

 long ; blades 3 to 7 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely villous on the upper 



Figure 1336.— Distribution of 

 Panicum spretum. 



