9S TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Panicum. 



38. PANICUM. Panick-grass. 



Linn. Gen. 32. Schreb. 46. Juss. 29. Sm. in Rees's Cycl. v. 26. 



Fl.Br.64. Lam. t. 43. Br. Pr. 189. Schrad. Germ. v. 1.239. 



Gcertn. t. 1 . 

 Pennisetum. Br. Pr. 195. 



Cal, imperfectly two-flowered, of 2 very unequal, ribbed 

 valves ; the outermost various, generally triangular, very 

 short, sometimes wanting ; inner much larger, concave, 

 elliptical, many- ribbed, for the most part awnless. One 

 floret perfect; the other either entirely neuter, or fur- 

 nished (in some foreign species) with stamens only. Cor. 

 in the former of 2 unequal, elliptical, membranous, acute 

 valves, both becoming horny, and forming a coat to the 

 seed : in the latter of 1 or 2 valves, the outermost concave, 

 of the texture of the calyx, ribbed, sometimes more or less 

 awned; the innermost flat, awnless, often wanting. Filam. 

 capillary, the length of the corolla. Anth. short, cloven 

 at each end. Germ, ovate. Styles distinct, awl-shaped, 

 as long as the stamens. Stigmas feathery, tufted, short. 

 Seed ovate, flattened at one side, coated with the ribbed 

 hardened corolla. 



Pennisetum of Richard and Brown differs only in having a 

 number of abortive flower-stalks, improperly called an in- 

 volucrum, as they have no share in the fructification. I 

 therefore, notwithstanding these really great authorities, 

 decline its adoption, there being no natural distinction 

 of habit in its favour. 



Panicum is a very extensive genus, of large coarse grasses, 

 mostly annual in Europe, of no agricultural use ; the in- 

 florescence spiked or panicled ; the seeds in some instances 

 used for food. The great imperfection of its secondary 

 floret, so much resembling the calyx in one of its valves, 

 might well lead to an error, which Schreber and Jussieu 

 first corrected. 



1. P. verticillatum. Rough Panick-grass. 



Panicle spiked, cylindrical, lobed, with whorled branches ; 

 and several prominent bristles, rough with reversed teeth. 

 Corolla of the perfect floret slightly uneven. 



P. verticillatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 82. Willd. v. 1 . 334. Fl. Br. 64. 



Engl. Bot. v. 13. £.874. Curt. Lond.fasc.4. t. 6. Knapp. t. 9. 



Graves Br. Gr. t. 1 0. Schrad. Germ, v. 1 . 239. Host Gram, v, 2. 



11.*. 13. Ehrh. Calam. 122. 

 P. n. 1543. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 250. 



