GRAMINEE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 573 
narrow and simple panicle ; rachis flexuous, naked and bristle-like at the apex ; 
spikelets ovate (1" long) ; upper glume 9-nerved, twice as long as the obtuse 
lower one. — South Florida. — Culms 139-29 high. Racemes distant on the 
common rachis, 3^ long. 
+ + Sterile flower of two palec, staminate or neutral. 
4. P. gibbum, Ell Panicle spiked, cylindrical, 3! — 5! long; spikelets 
oblong, obtuse; upper glume oval, strongly 1l-nerved, tumid at the base, 
twice as long as the smooth fertile flower, the lower one minute; sterile flower 
3-androus ; culms branched, slender, reclining ; leaves linear-lanceolate, smooth 
or hairy. — Swamps, Florida to North Carolina. July- Sept. — Plant deep 
green. Spikelets caducous. 
5. P. Curtisii. - Panicle slender, spike-like (6/—8' long), the appressed 
lower branches remote; spikelets ovate-lanceolate; glumes slightly keeled, the 
upper 5-nerved, twice as long as the lower one, and rather shorter than the - 
acutish flower; sterile flower 3-androus; culms and smooth linear-lanceolate 
leaves. rigid ; sheaths smooth or hairy. (P. Walteri, Ell, not of Poiret nor 
Pursh. P. carinatum, Torr., in Curtis's Plants, Wilmington, not of Presl.) — 
Ponds and swamps, Florida to North Carolina. — Culms 3? —49 high, often 
rooting at the lower joints. 
6. P. hians, Ell. Panicle small, the few scattere | and spreading branches 
naked below ; spikelets in small distinct clusters, ovate ; upper glume 5-nerved, 
Se 4 times longer than the lower ; sterile flowers neutral, longer than the perfect 
flower, the upper palea rigid, obovate, involute, gaping at the apex; culms 
slender (6’-18' high), simple; leaves linear, smooth. — Low grounds in fields 
and along roads, Florida to North Carolina. 
7. P. gymnocarpum, El. Panicle large, pyramidal, the rigid expand- 
ing branches mostly clustered or whorled ; spikelets 3-6 in scattered clusters 
(2" long), lanceolate; glumes lanceolate-subulate, rough-keeled, 2-3 times 
longer than the perfect flower; sterile flower neutral; the lower palea as long 
as the lower glume, and much longer than the upper palea; culms rigid, erect ; 
leaves (1' or more wide) lanceolate, cordate, smooth. — Muddy banks of rivers, 
Florida, Georgia, and westward. Sept. 1} — Culms 29-39 high. Sheaths 
imbricated. — 
8. P. anceps, L. Panicles lateral and terminal, diffuse ; nii. 3-10 
in mostly scattered clusters, ovate-lanceolate, acute ; glumes smooth, keeled, 
compressed at the apex, the upper 7-nerved, twice as eng as the lower one, and 
one third longer than the fertile flower; culms flattened. — Var. strictum. 
Culms strict and rigid, like the erect leaves; panicle filiform, of few appressed 
branches, 2 - 3! long. — Damp sterile soil, Florida, and northward. Common and 
very variable. Aug. and Sept. 1} — Plant mostly pale. Spikelets often purple. 
* * Spikelets mostly by pairs, on short appressed pedicels (except Nos. 13 and 14), 
ceni Hsnatered on the ultimate lrésehsrtlle uniilly ample open panicle: I: 
^ : *- Sterile flower consisting of two pales. — 
L. Cals tl (27-4 hg; branches of the lege dit 
