644 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



an empty single palet of the lower (neutral) flower, resembling the upper glume, 

 fulfils its office, and stands opposite the narrow upper palet of the terete fertile 

 flower. Stamens 3. Stigmas branched-plumose. Grain not grooved, enclosed 

 in the palets, all deciduous together. (The ancient Latin name of the Millet 

 (which however belongs to a different genus), probably from mille, a thousand, 

 because of its fertility.) 



1. M. effiisum, L. Smooth perennial, 3° -6° high; leaves broad and 

 flat, thin; panicle spreading (6' -9' long); flower ovoid-oblong. — Cold and 

 damp woods, New England to Illinois and northward. June. (Eu.) 



58. AMPHICARPUM, Kunth. (PI. 13.) 



S pikelets jointed with the apex of the pedicels, apparently 1 -flowered, of two 

 kinds; one kind in a terminal panicle, like those of Milium, except that the 

 rudiment of the lowest glume is ordinarily discernible, and deciduous from the 

 joint without ripening fruit, although the flower is perfect : the other kind soli- 

 tary at the extremity of slender runner-like radical peduncles (which are more 

 or less sheathed towards the base), much larger than the others, perfect and 

 fertile, subterranean, fertilized in the bud ; the enwrapping glume and similar 

 empty palet many -nerved. Flower oblong or ovoid, pointed. Stamens 3 (small 

 in the radical flowers). Stigmas plumose, deep purple. Grain not grooved, in 

 the radical flowers very large, the embryo next the lower palet. Neutral palet 

 somewhat exceeding the glume and the fertile flower. (Name from dfUpiKapnos, 

 doubly fruit-bearing. ) 



1. A. Plirshii, Kunth. Annual or biennial ? erect, l°-4° high; leaves 

 lanceolate, copious on the lower part of the culm, hispid, especially on the 

 sheaths; panicle strict, naked; grain ovoid or oblong (2"- 3" long), terete. 

 (Milium amphicarpon, Pursh.) — Moist sandy pine-barrens, New Jersey, and 

 in the Southern States. Sept. 



59. PASPALTJM, L. Paspalxjm. (PI. 13.) 



Spikelets spiked or somewhat racemed in 2 - 4 rows on one side of a flattened 

 or filiform continuous rhachis, jointed with their very short pedicels, plano- 

 convex, awnless, apparently only one-flowered, as in Milium ; but, on the other 

 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 palet 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 trith a (1") broad and thin membranaceous or foliaceous and keeled rhachis, 



the incurved margins partly enclosing the small two-rowed spikelets. (Smooth, 



aqudlic, or nearly so, decumbent or floating.) 

 1. P. fluitans, Kunth. Annual; leaves lanceolate, flat (3" -8") broad; 

 spikes numerous in a raceme ; the rhachis somewhat projecting beyond the minute 

 and slightly pubescent spikelets into a tapering point, scabrous on the back. 

 (Ccrcsia fluitans, Ell.) — llivcr-swamps, Virginia, S. Ohio, Illinois, and south- 

 ward. Sept., Oct 



