PANICE^. 



147 



Spikelets with 1 terminal perfect flower and a rudimentary 1 

 below it, awned, clustered along the secuud distant rays of a simple 

 panicle, articulate with the pedicels. Glumes 4, the 3 outer ones 

 membranous, the lowest empty one not much shorter than the 

 others and with a longer awn, floral glume awnless and hardened 

 with the palea as in Panicum, to which it is very nearly allied, in 

 the section Bracltiaria. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. 



A small tropical and subtropical genus of 10 to 16 species, found 

 in botli hemispheres. By some botanists they have been separated 

 as though there were thirty species. The genus differs from Pani- 

 cum in the greater development of the lowest empty glume, which 

 is always awned. 



1. 0. undulatifolius Beau v. Agrost. 54 (1812). 0. set arms R. 

 & S. Syst. 2:481 (1817). Panicum setarium Lam. 111. 1:170 

 (1791). 



Culms weak, sparingly branched, 

 20-50 cm. high, ascending from a long 

 creeping base. Sheaths ciliate, about as 

 long as the internodes; blades reticu- 

 late-veined, ovate-lanceolate or lanceo- 

 late, acute, 2-4 cm. long, 5-12 mm. 

 wide, sparingly ciliate. Spikes 5-8, on 

 3-8 centimeters of the axis, 5-8 mm. 

 long. Spikelets 3-7, glabrescent, oval, 

 3 mm. long, first glume 1-nerved, 2 

 mm. long, with a stout, straight, 

 smooth, blunt awn, 1 cm. long, second 

 a little longer, ovate, 5-nerved, bearing 

 an awn its own length, third glume 

 broad-oval, still longer, 7-9-nerved, 

 with a short awn; fertile floret ovate, Fig. %1 .—Oplismemis undulati- 



about 2 mm. long. f^f *• , ^',l^'Y^' «. ^Pikelet; 



^ 0, floret. (Scribner.) 



Florida, Curtiss 3595. 



2. 0. Liebmanni Fourn. Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3 : 502 

 (1880). 



Culms simple excepting at the base, 40-60 cm. high. Sheaths 



b 



