380 ENDOGENOUS PLANTS 



2. P. la&ve, MX. Culm rather stout ; leaves generally smooth ; 

 spikes 2 to 6, alternate and approximated at the summit of the 

 culm, or long naked peduncle. 



SMOOTH PASPALUM. 



Culm 1% to 3 feet high, green. Leaves 3 to 9 inches long, pilose at base. Spikes 

 2 to 4 inches long, with a few long white hairs at base; rachis flat on the back, 

 flexuose ; spikelets broader than the rachis. 

 Hob. Grassy flats, and moist grounds : frequent. FL Aug. Fr, Sept. 



B. Spikelets manifestly 1%- or 2-flowered (the lower floret neutral, or staminate),- 

 the lower glume being mostly present. 



503. PAWICtJM. L> 



[Supposed from the Latin, Pants, bread ; which some species afford.] 

 Spikelets sometimes spiked, or racemose, usually panicled. Glumes 

 unequal, the lower one short, or minute, sometimes wanting. 

 Lower floret neutral, or staminate, rarely awned, mostly consisting 

 of a single palea, which resembles the upper glume. Upper floret 

 perfect, coriaceous, inclosing the free and grooveless grain. Stamens 



3. Stigmas plumose, usually purple. 



gl. DIGITARIA: Annuals: Spikelets crowded 2 or 3 together, in simple one-sided 

 digitate-fascicled spikes; neutral floret with a single palea; lower glume 

 minute, or wanting. 



1. P. sanauinale, L. Culms geniculate, decumbent and radicating at 

 base ; spikes 4 to 8 or 10 ; upper glume shorter than the floret. 

 Digitaria sanguinalis. Scop. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p>. 44. 



BLOODY (OR PURPLE) PANIOUM. Crab-grass. Finger-grass. 



Culms 1 to 2 feet long, ascending, geniculate, smooth, somewhat branching 

 from the sheaths. Leaves 2 to 6 or 8 inches long, softly pilose; sheatfis strigose- 

 ly hairy ; ligitle short. Spikes 2 to 6 inches in length, often in 2 fascicles, usually 

 becoming purple. 

 Hob. Gardens, and lota. Nat. of Europe. FL July. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. The Grasses of this Section (Digitaria) are probably all 

 introduced, at least into this region. This is a very troublesome 

 one, in the latter part of summer, in Gardens and cultivated lots ; 

 and, like the most of the Panicums, is little worth, in an agricul- 

 tural point of view. 



2. P. glabrum, Gaudin. Culms procumbent and spreading, rarely 

 radicating ; spikes 2 or 3 to 6 ; upper glume nearly as long as the 

 floret. 



Digitaria glabra. Roem. $ Schultes. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 594. 

 SMOOTH PANICUM. 



Oulms 6 to 12 inches long, often closely prostrate. Leaves 1 to 2 or 3 inches in 

 length; sheaths smooth, a little pilose at throat. Spikes 1 to 3 inches long, seldom 

 more than 3 in number ; spikelets greenish purple. 

 Sab. Cultivated grounds. Nat. of Europe. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. Naturalized in all our cultivated lots, and Indian-Corn fields ; 

 but not so troublesome as the preceding. 



3. P. filiforme, L. Culms erect, very slender ; spikes 2 to 4 or 6 

 (rarely single), filiform ; lower glume wanting. 



Digitaria filiformis. Ell. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 44. 



