Eriochloa.'] GiiAMiNEiE. 409 



1. S. annulata, Kunth, Enum. i. 73. A perennial grass, 1 to 2 or 3 

 ft. high, tufted and erect, or decumbent at the lower nodes, usually glabrous. 

 Leaves nan-OAV. Panicle oblong, 3 to 5 in. long ; the branches slender, simple 

 or scarcely branched, and somewhat 1 -sided ; the rhachis glabrous or nearly 

 so. Pedicels |- to 1 line long, often bearing at the top a few long hairs for- 

 merly mistaken for an involucre. Spikelets about 1^ lines long. Outer glumes 

 haiiy, narrowed into a point full \ line long. Plowering glume glabrous, 

 faintly 3-neiTed, obtuse, with a short fine point. Palea rather smaller, 2- 

 neiwed, without any point. 



Hongkong:, Wright ; also on the adjoining continent. Frequent in tropical and subtro- 

 pical Asia and Africa, and closely allied to the S. American E. imuctata. 



4. PANICUM, Linn. 



(Digitaria, Juss. ; Oplismenus, Beauv. ; Setaria, Beauv.) 



Spikelets usually small, 1 -flowered, or with a second male flower below it, 

 awnless or rarely awned, either along one side of the simple branches of a pa- 

 nicle, or in a loose branching or close and spike-like panicle. Glumes always 

 4, the lowest small, sometimes veiy minute and empty, the next usually larger 

 and always empty, the tliird empty or with an imperfect or male flower in its 

 axis, the innermost or flowering glume of a firmer texture, smoother, and more 

 faintly 3-nerved. Palea like the flowering glume, but smaller and more or 

 less 2-nerved. Grrain enclosed in the hardened flowering glume and palea. 



A vast genus, chiefly tropical or N. American, with a very few species spreading into 

 Europe and temperate Asia. 



Panicle shnple, with sessile one-sided spike-like branches. 



Spikelets not awned, in pairs, one or both pedicellate. Spikes digi- 

 tate or crowded at the summit of the stem. {Digitaria^ 

 Spikes 2, long and stiff. Pedicellate flower covered with long 



hairs 1. P. harhatmn. 



Spikes several, clustered. Pedicellate flower glabrous or hairy. 

 Stem decumbent, ascending. One spikelet of each pair usually 



sessile ; second glume much smaller than the third . . . 2. P. sang^dnale. 

 Stems tufted at the base, erect. Spikelets all pedicellate ; se- 

 cond glume nearly as long as the third . 3. P. comniutidum. 



Spikelets not awned, sessile, alternating in 2 row^s. Spikes distant 4. P. distachyuin. 

 Spikelets often awned, sessile and crowded or clustered. 

 Spikelets crowded in 4 or more close rows, in dense spikes. 

 Spikes nearly equal, distant, forming a long slender panicle. 



Spikelets 1 line long, not awned 5. P. colonum. 



Lower spikes longer than the upper, in a close pyramidal pa- 

 nicle. Spikelets 1^ lines long, often awned 6. P. Crus-gaUi. 



Spikelets awned, in distinct clusters, forming interrupted spikes. 7- P. comjjositum. 

 Panicle contracted into a cylindrical spike. 



Spikelets intermixed with long awn-like bristles 8. P. glaucum. 



Spikes without a\vns or bristles 16. P. indicum. 



(See also Cixlachne.) 

 Panicle cowpound, icith slender branches, more or less spreading. 

 Spikelets interspersed with a few long awn-like bristles. 



Panicle loose or spreading, the lower branches 4 to 8 in. long. 



Leaves 1 in, broad or more 9. P. plicatum. 



Panicle narrow, the lower branches 1 to 2 in. long. Leaves not 



i in. broad . 10. P. cvcurrens. 



