576 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



hand, differing from Panicum merely in the want of the 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 membranaceous or folia- 

 ceous rhachis broader than the spikelets, and keeled or boat-shaped. 



1. P. flllitaiis, Kunth. Glabrous; stems procumbent below and rooting 

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

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



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

 and southward. Oct. See Addend. 



* * Sj)ikes one or few ; the rhachis narrower than the spikelets. 

 - Spikelets very ol)tuse, orbicular : spikes one terminal, and oftert'l -5 lateral. 



2. I*, sctaceum, 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 solitary on a long peduncle, and 

 usually one from the sheaths of each of the upper leaves on short peduncles or included ; 

 spikelets (" wide) nairouiy 2-rowed. 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 ; 

 strikes 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 Z-rowed (over 1" wide). ]\. 1 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. 



1. P. disticlllini, 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 ($'-2' long), one short- 

 [nilnnclfd, the. other sessile; rhachis flat on the back ; spikelds orate, slightly pointed 

 (hardy l" long). U (** notatum, Flwyge, frc.} Wet fields, Virginia and 

 southward. July - Sept. 



5. P. HM^itfjria, 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 ; spikelets ovate-lanceolutc (2'' long). (Milium paspalodes, 11.) Vir- 

 ginia (Pursh), and southward. 



59. PANICUM, L. PANIC-GRASS. 



Spikelets panic-led, racemed, or sometimes spiked, not involucratc, 1^-3- 

 flowcrcd. Glumes 2, but the lower one usually short or minute (rarely want- 

 ing), niembranaceo-horbaceous ; the upper as long as the fertile flower. Lowei 



