POACEAE. 



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4. Panicium dichotomiflorum 



Michx. Cane Grass. (Fig. 18.) 

 Culms at first erect, l°-2° tall, simple, 

 later decumbent and longer, branched 

 at all the upper nodes. Leaf-sheaths 

 loose, glabrous, somewhat flattened; 

 blades 6-2° long, long-acuminate; 

 panicle pyramidal; spikelets I'^-li" 

 long, lanceolate, acute, glabrous. [P. . 

 proliferum of Eeade and of Mills- I 

 paugh.] 'I 



Roadsides and wet soil. Natural- 

 ized. Eastern United States. Flowers 

 in summer and autumn. Branches of 

 its panicles are transported by winds. 



5. Panicum virgatum L. Switch 

 Grass. (Fig. 19.) Culms erect from a 

 stout rootstock, 3°-6° tall; leaf -blades 

 elongated, 1° long or more, 3"-6" wide, 

 flat, glabrous or pubescent: panicle i°- 

 1^° long, its branches widely spreading 

 or sometimes nearly erect ; spikelets 

 ovate, acuminate, about 2" long, glabrous. 



Coastal rocks and borders of marshes. 

 Native. Eastern North America and Cuba. 

 Seeds transported by birds or by the wind. 

 Flowers in summer or autumn. The Ber- 

 muda plant is referred by Hitchcock to P. 

 virgatum cuhetise Griseb. 



6. Panicum maximum Jaeq. Guinea Grass. 

 (Fig. 20.) Culm 2°-6° tall or more, leafy; leaf- 

 sheaths overlapping, glabrous, or tuberculate- 

 pubescent; blades elongated, V-IV wide, glabrous; 

 panicle l°-2° long, its branches erect or nearly 

 so, very long; spikelets glabrous, li"-2" long, the 

 fourth scale transversely rugose. 



Waste grounds and cultivated soil. Naturalized. 

 Native of tropical America. Naturalized also in the 

 southern United States. A valuable fodder grass. 



Panicum palmifolium Poir., Palm-leaved 

 Panicum, a tall grass with strongly, plicately 

 nerved leaves often 1° long and 1' wide, more or 

 less pubescent with long hairs, the spikelets in a 

 narrow panicle, is sometimes planted for ornament. 

 It is native of Tropical America and naturalized 

 in Jamaica. 



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