74 BRITISH GRASSES. 



Panicum Italicum has also broad leaves, but its culms 

 are slender ; it attains a height of from two to three feet, 

 and its panicle is so crowded and compact as almost to 

 assume the form of a regular cylinder ; it curves slightly, 

 causing the culm to bend outwards, which gives an ele- 

 gant form to the clump. Muhlenberg describes its 

 leaves as " lanceolate with bearded ligules ; sheath downy 

 at margin, terminal spikes cylindrical, basal ones inter- 

 rupted." 



Panicum Crus-galli. Here the culm is erect, glossy, 

 with enlarged nodes, and compressed above them. The 

 leaves are lanceolate, as in the last species, but, accord- 

 ing to Muhlenberg, the ligule is always absent. The 

 reddish pistil gives an agreeable variety of colour to the 

 numerous light-green florets, and the panicle is alter- 

 nately branched, the florets crowded on the branches. 

 It is a native of Pennsylvania, and flowers in August. 

 It forms a verdant and very rich group, and tells well in 

 a border among gay flowers. Its height is about two 

 feet. 



In strong contrast with the solid appearance of these 

 members of the Panick family stands the Bulbous Pa- 

 nick, five feet in height, and as light and airy in form 

 as our native Millet-grass. The leaves are very narrow, 

 stiff, and pointed, and seem to occupy scarcely any 

 space, so that the whole cluster looks half transparent, 

 and as if it might be blown away bodily by the lightest 

 breeze. 



Panicum colonum is allied to P. bulbosum, by the light- 

 ness of its panicle, but it is of short stature, only about 

 one foot high, and very leafy. It is a native of both the 

 East and West Indies; its spikelets are described by 

 Persoon as " alternate, secund, awnless, ovate, and nearly 



