571 Nash : The dichotomous Panicums 



Panicum Earlei 



A densely tufted perennial. Culms slender, 1-1.5 dm. tall, 

 usually with a few long weak scattered hairs below, finally branched, 

 the nodes rather sparingly barbed : leaves about 3 ; sheaths rather 

 sparingly hirsute with long hairs ; ligule a dense ring of hairs 

 about 0.3 mm. long ; blades ascending, lanceolate, rather spar- 

 ingly hirsute on both surfaces with long spreading hairs, 1—3 

 cm, long, 2-6 mm. wide, minutely serrulate and roughened on the 

 margins : panicle broadly ovate, 2-3 cm. long, its smooth branches 

 spreading, the larger ones 1-1.5 cm. long: spikelets about 1.3 

 mm. long and 0.7 mm. wide, elliptic, obtuse, glabrous, the first 

 scale orbicular or broadly oval, i -nerved, obtuse, the second and 

 third scales 7-nerved, the second scale shorter than the third and 

 fourth, the fourth scale white, about i mm. long and 0.6 mm. 

 wide, oval. 



Type collected at Auburn, Lee Co., Alabama, on May 7, 

 1898, by Messrs. F. S. Earle and C. F. Baker, no. 1532; no. 

 1535, of the same place and date, also belongs here. 



Panicum epilifolium 



A tufted perennial, glabrous, with the exceptions noted below. 

 Culms 2-3.5 dm. tal : leaves 2 or 3 ; sheaths shorter than the 

 internodes, minutely pubescent at the apex, ciliate on both mar- 

 gins with long slender hairs ; ligule a scarious ciliolate ring about 

 0.2 mm. wide ; blades widely spreading, linear-lanceolate, 4-7 

 cm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, minutely pubescent on the upper surface 

 between the nerves, serrulate and very rough on the margins : 

 panicle exserted, ovate, 5-7 cm. long, its branches spreading or 

 ascending, the larger ones 2-2.5 cm. long: spikelets 3 mm. long 

 and about 1.5 mm. broad, oval, obtusely apiculate, the first scael 

 glabrous or with a few scattered hairs, i -nerved, nearly orbicular, 

 acute, a little less than one half as long as thespikelet, the second 

 and third scales densely pubescent with short spreading hairs, 9- 

 nerved, the second usually a little shorter than the third and fourth, 

 the latter scale yellowish, 2.5 mm. long and a little over i mm. 

 wide, elliptic, obtusely apiculate. 



Type collected by the writer in a scrub hammock at Eustis, 

 Lake Co., Florida, March 12-31, 1894, no. 45. Also secured at 

 the same place by Professor L. M. Underwood, on March 22, 

 1891, no. 2250. It bears some resemblance in habit to P. cilii- 

 fcriun, but is readily distinguished from that species by its glabrous 

 sheaths, naked blade-margins and more acute spikelets. 



