in Extra- Tropical Countries. 249 



Panicum roseum, Steuclel. (TrlcholcKna rosea, Nees.) 



South-Africa. This perennial pretty grass promises to become 

 with others of the section Tricholama valuable for meadows in mild 

 climes. It gets about 2 feet high. Mr. Danger counted nearly 300 

 stems on one plant in Gippsland. 



Panicum sanguinale, 



From Middle and South-Europe, Northern Africa, and Southern 

 Asia, spread through all countries with a warm .climate, but apparently 

 also indigenous in North- and East- Australia. This is the "Crab-grass" 

 of the Southern United States, where according to Mr. Hageuauer it 

 is recognized as one of the most useful of all pasture-grasses; in Fiji 

 it is also considered the best grass for pastures according to Mr. 

 Holmes. It accommodates itself to swampy and shady places, readily 

 disseminates itself on barren ground, and is likely to add to the value 

 of desert pastures, although it is annual. Stock relish this grass. P. 

 ciliare (Linne) and P. glabrum (Gaudin) are allied. Colonel Howard 

 of Georgia says of the Crab-grass and Bermuda-grass, that they will 

 live in spite of neglect, but when petted will make such grateful 

 returns, as to astonish their benefactor. 



Panicum semialatum, R. Brown. 



Warmer regions of Asia, Africa and Australia. A superior tall 

 pasture-grass, of easy dispersion in warm humid localities. 



Panicum spectabile, Nees.* 



The " Coapim " of Angola. From West- Africa transferred to 

 many other tropical countries. A rather succulent, very fattening 

 grass, famed not only in its native land, but also long since in Brazil. 

 This grass, which was with the help of the great Kew establishment 

 first obtained by the author for Australia and Polynesia, is according 

 to Mr. R. L. Holmes " the wonder of all beholders in Fiji, strangling 

 by its running roots almost everything in its course; at its original 

 starting point forming a mass of the richest green foliage, over 6 feet 

 high, gradually lowering to the outer border, where a network of 

 shoots or runners is covering the ground; it roots at the joints, and 

 sends up then a mass of the softest and most luscious fodder." In 

 Fiji it runs over the ground at the rate of ten feet in three months. 

 Readily propagated by pieces of the procumbent stem, which roots 

 freely at each joint. Requires to be well fed down. It may be 

 assumed, that at present about 300 well-defined species of Panicum 

 are known, chiefly tropical and sub-tropical; very few extending 

 naturally to Europe or the United States of North- America, Japan 

 or the southern part of Australia. Though mostly from the hot 

 zones, these grasses endure a cooler clime in many instances, and 

 some of them would prove great acquisitions, particularly the peren- 

 nial species. Numerous good kinds occur spontaneously in Queens- 

 land and North- Australia. Panicum is the genus richest in species 

 among grasses. 



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