MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



643 



10. Sphaerocarpa. Glabrous as a whole; culms few in a tuft, rela- 

 tively stout; ligules obsolete or nearly so; blades mostly thick, 

 firm, cartilaginous-margined, cordate and ciliate at base, panicle 

 branches mostly viscid; spikelets obovoid-spherical at maturity, 

 oval when young, 5- to 7-nerved, puberulent. Autumnal culms 

 remaining simple or only sparingly branching, the thick white- 

 margined blades of the winter rosette conspicuous. 

 70. Panicum sphaerocarpon Ell. (Fig. 1394.) Vernal phase light 



green; culms 20 to 55 cm tall, radiate-spreading, sometimes nearly 



Figure 1391.— Distribution of 

 Panicum columbianum. 



Figure 1392.— Panicum oricola. 

 Two views of spikelet, and floret, 

 X 10. (Type.) 



Figure 1393.— Distribution of 

 Panicum oricola. 



erect, the nodes appressed-pubescent; blades 7 to 14 mm wide; 



panicle 5 to 10 cm long, about as wide; spikelets 1.6 to 1.8 mm long. 



Autumnal phase prostrate-spreading, sparingly branched late in the 



season from the lower and middle nodes, the branches short, mostly 



simple. Qi — Sandy soil, Ver- 

 mont to Kansas, south to northern 

 Florida and Texas; Mexico to 

 Venezuela (fig. 1395). Panicum 



SPHAEROCARPON Var. INFLATUM 



(Scribn. and Smith) Hitchc. and 

 Chase. Differing from P. sphae- 

 rocarpon in having a ligule as 



Figure 1395.— Distribution of 

 Panicum sphaerocarpon. 



Figure 1394.— Panicum sphaerocarpon. Plant, X 1; 

 two views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. (Deam, 

 Ind.) 



Figure 1396.— Panicum polyanthes. 

 Two views of spikelet, and floret, 

 X 10. (Type.) 



much as 1 mm long, spikelets 1.4 to 1.5 mm long, and more freely 

 branching autumnal culms; many intergrades occur. % — Moist 

 sandy soil, Coastal Plain, Delaware to Florida and Texas, north 

 to Oklahoma and Missouri. 



71. Panicum polyanthes Schult. (Fig. 1396.) Vernal culms erect, 

 30 to 90 cm tall, the nodes glabrous or nearly so; blades 12 to 23 cm 

 long, 15 to 25 mm wide, the upper scarcely reduced; panicle 8 to 25 



