panice^e 



77 



Panicum stagniinim, Retz. 



It is an annual. The stems are glabrous, creeping and some- 

 what prostrate at the base, and the upper portion is erect, 3 to 4 

 feet long, and rooting at the nodes in the geniculate portion of the 

 stem. 



The leaf-sheath is smooth, striate, glabrous, sometimes pubescent 

 about the lower nodes, varying in length from lY 2 to aVi inches. 

 The ligale is distinct, consisting of a fringe of stiff hairs. 



The leaf-blade is linear-lanceolate, acuminate or acute, base 

 rounded, glabrous, smooth below especially in the lower part, and 

 scabrid above and in the upper part, 6 to 12 inches long, by l /i to 

 % inch ; the lower leaves have their blades somewhat narrower at 

 the base than in the middle, but the blades in the upper part of the 

 stem and in the middle are of the same breadth ; margins are very 

 minutely serrate. 



Fig. 88. — Panicum stagninum. 



I. Front view of a portion of spike ; 2. back view of the same ; 3 and 4. front and 

 back views of a spikelet ; 5, 6 and 7. the first, second and the third glume, respectively ; 

 8. palea of the third glume with its anthers ; 9. front and back view of fourth glume ; 

 10. the ovary, stamens and lodicules. 



The inflorescence is 4 to 8 inches long ; the main rachis is 

 angular, grooved, scabrid on the ridges. The spikes are ^ to 10 

 inches, alternate, pale green or purplish, rather distant, spreading 

 or suberect (never erect) }/z to 1^2 inches long, sessile and with a 

 tuft of bristly hairs at the base ; the rachis of the spike is angular, 

 grooved with scattered bulbous-based bristles on the ridges. 



The spikelets are four ranked, ovoid-lanceolate, % to Ye inch 

 long without the awn, somewhat flattened on one side and gib- 

 bous on the other, pale green or purplish, with equal bulbous-based 

 bristly hairs on the nerves. 



There are four glumes. The first glume is half of the third glume, 

 thin, membranous, hairy, broadly ovate, abruptly cuspidate at the 

 apex, and acuminate, 5-nerved (rarely 3-nerved). The second glume 

 is broadly ovate-lanceolate, concave, acuminate, short awned, 5- 

 nerved with two partial nerves one on each side of the central 



