$8 TRIANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Panicum. 



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 hard- 

 ened corolla. 

 Pennisetum of Richard and Brown differs only in having a 

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

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

 therefore, notwithstanding these really great authorities, 

 decHne 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- 



Jlorescence spiked or panicied ; the seeds in some instances 

 used for food. The great imperfection of its secondary 



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

 might well lead to an error, which Schreber and Jussieu 

 first corrected. 



1. V. vert'icillatum. 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. PL 82. Willd. v, I. 334. H. Br. 64. 



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



Graves Br. Gr. t. 10. Schrad. Germ. vA.239. Host Gram. v. 2. 



\]. t. 13. Ehrh.Calam. 122. 

 P. n. 1543. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 2,50. 

 Gramen paniceum, spica aspera. Bauh. Theatr. 139. f. Scheuchz. 



Agr. 47. Rail Syn. 394. 

 G. paniceum, spica simplici aspera. Moris, v. 3. 189. sect. 8. t. 4. 



f. 11. 

 G, geniculatum. Ger. Em. 15./. 1. Bauh. Hist. v. 2. 469./. 



In moist cultivated fields, but rare. 



About the banks of the Thames^ between London and Putney, in 

 several places. Mr. Newton. In Battersea fields, and near 

 Norwich, 



Annual. July, August. 



Root of several stout fibres. Stems one or more, from 6 inches to 

 2 feet high, simple, spreading, jointed, leafy, striated ; angular 

 and rough at the top. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed, harsh 

 on both sides, very rough at the edges ; their sheaths long and 

 smooth. Stipula of numerous short hairs, continued a little way 

 down the margins of the sheath. Panicle compound, 2 inches 



