Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



Witch-grass (Pdnicum capillare), is a beautiful weed of dry soil 

 and is easily recognized, since, even to the most superficial 

 observer, it is unlike any other grass of late summer. The large, 

 yet delicate, flowering-heads, composed of innumerable fine 

 branches, are soft and silky when they first break from the 

 enclosing sheaths; later, when the flowers bloom and the seeds 

 ripen, the panicles are widely open and stiff, and, soon broken 

 by the wind, are blown as tumble-weeds across the fields to 

 scatter their seeds and give them to the care of another year. 



Small members of the genus are common by roadsides and in 

 fields, where in short fiowering-heads of green and purple spikelets 

 Panic-grasses bloom from spring until autumn. Among those 

 most commonly found are the Forked Panic-grass {Pdnicum dicho- 

 tomum) bearing short, spreading leaves on slender, wiry stems 

 which support scantily flowered panicles; Starved Panic-grass 

 {Pdnicum depauperdtum) recognized by its narrow, erect leaves 

 which often equal the stem in height; the several species of Hairy 

 Panic-grass clothed in short, white hairs; Scribner's Panic-grass, 

 with short, coarse leaves, rough on the margins, and borne on 

 hair\' sheaths, the panicles composed of large, plump flowers; 

 Round-fruited Panic-grass {Pdnicum sphaerocdrpon) bearing 

 man\- flowered, purple panicles, hairy-margined sheaths, and 

 broad, rough-edged leaves; Small-fruited Panic-grass {Pdnicum 

 microcarpon) with longer, oblong panicles of many tiny flowers; 

 and Porter's Panic-grass {Pdnicum Bbscii) bearing a few large 

 spikelets, the nodes of the stems barbed with soft hairs, and the 

 sheaths and broad leaves clothed in soft pubescence. 



The larger Panic-grasses do not begin to bloom until mid- 

 summer or later. Many of these are common in damp soil. The 

 Large-fruited Panic-grass {Pdnicum latifolium) bears pyramidal 

 panicles of large, seed-like spikelets; in Hispid Panic-grass, which, 

 like the preceding species, borders with leafy stems our wayside 

 thickets, the spikelets are more oblong and the sheaths are rough- 

 ened with short, stiff hairs. Spreading Panic-grass {Pdnicum 

 dichotomiflorum) branches abundantly, spreading over the surface 

 of the ground, and the smooth, stout stems and flattened sheaths 

 are surmounted by flowering-heads which are often a foot or more 

 in length. 



Sea-beach Panic-grass {Pdnicum amaroides) and Tall Smooth 

 Panic-grass {Pdnicum virgdium) are characteristic plants of the 



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