576 GRAMINEJB. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



hand, differing from Panicum merely in the want of fhe lower glume ; which, 

 however, is occasionally present in some species, as a small scale. Glume and 

 empty palea few-nerved. Flower coriaceous, mostly orbicular or ovate, flat on 

 the inner side, convex on the outer. Stamens 3. (Said to have been a Greek 

 name for Millet.) 



* Spikes very numerous in a spiked raceme ; their thin and mcmbranaceous or folia- 

 ceous r/iachis broader than the spikelets, and keeled or boat-sluiped. 



1. P. fliiitaJlS, Kunth. Glabrous; steins procumbent below and rooting 

 in the mud or floating; leaves lanceolate; rhachis (1" wide) projecting beyond 

 the small slightly pubescent spikelets into a tapering point, scabrous on the 

 back. (I) (Ceresia fluitans, Ell.) River-swamps, Virginia, S.Ohio, Illinois, 

 and southward. Oct. 



* 3= Spikes one orfeiv ; the rhachis narrower than the spikelets. 

 Spikelets very obtuse, orbicular : spikes one terminal, and often 1-5 lateral. 



2. P. setiiCCllin, Michx. Culm ascending or decumbent (1- 2 long), 

 slender; leaves (2" wide, flat) and sheaths clothed with soft spreading hairs; 

 spikes very slender (2' -4' long), smooth, mostly solitai-y on a long peduncle, and 

 usually one from the sheaths of each of the upper leaves on shoi't peduncles or included; 

 spikelets (%" wide) narrowly 2-roived. 1J. (Also P. debile and P. ciliatifolium, 

 Michx.) Sandy fields, Massachusetts, near the coast, to Illinois, and southward. 

 August. 



3. P. lifcve, Michx. Culm upright, rather stout (l-3 high) ; the pretty 

 large and long leaves with the flattened sheaths smooth or somewhat hairy ; 

 spikes 2-6, the lateral ones somewhat approximated near the summit of an elon- 

 gated naked peduncle, spreading (2' -4' long), smooth, except a bearded tuft at 

 their base; spikelets broadly 2-rowed (over 1" wide). 1J. ? Moist soil, S. New 

 England to Kentucky, and southward. August. Either glabrous or sometimes 

 the lower sheaths, c. very hairy. 



*- *- Spikelets acute: spikes always a pair at the summit of the naked peduncle. 



4. P. disticlilim, L. (JOINT-GRASS.) Nearly glabrous, rather glau- 

 cous ; culms ascending (about 1 high) from a long creeping base ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate (2' -3' long) ; spikes short and closely-flowered (i'-2' long), one short- 

 pedunclcd, the olher sessile; rhachis flat on the back ; spikelets oni/f, slightly printed 

 (barely 1|" long). U (P. notatum, Flneggr, <fr.) Wet fields, Virginia and 

 southward. July - Sept. 



5. P. Digitaria, Poir. Culms ascending (l-2-|- high) from a creeping 

 base; leaves lanceolate (3' -6' long, $'-$ wide); spikes slender and rather 

 sparsely flowered (l'-4' long), conjugate, both sessile at the apex of the slender 

 peduncle; spikdets ovate-lanceolate (2'' long). (Milium paspalodes, Ell.) Vir- 

 ginia (Pursh), and southward. 



59. PANICUM, L. PANIC-GRASS. 



Spikdets p;inielcd, r;'<>m<'il, or sometimes spiked, not involucrate, 1^-2- 

 flowcred. Glumes :.', but th- lower mi" usually short or minute (rarely want- 

 ing), membranacco-herbaceous ; the upper as long as the fertile flower. Lower 



