82 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



sheaths are the only characters not agreeing with those of the type of P. bulbosum. 

 The author states it is closely allied to that species and scarcely different from it. 



Panicum gongylodes Jacq. Eclog. Gram. 30. pi. 21. 1815-1820. The description is 

 based on a plant grown in the University garden at Vienna in 1807 from seed received 



from the Botanical Garden at Montpellier under 

 the name Panicum altissimum Brouss.a A speci- 

 men labeled " Panicum gongylodes Jacq." culti- 

 vated in the garden at Vienna and preserved in 

 the Vienna Herbarium is taken as authentic if 

 not the type. Plate 21 of the Eclogae represents 

 P. bulbosum. The date on the title-page of the 

 fascicle in which this species appears, containing 

 numbers 21 to 40, is 1815-1820. 



Panicum conjusum Trim; Nees, Agrost. Bras. 

 174. 1829. This name, credited to "Herb. Trin." 

 is given as a synonym of P. gongylodes Jacq. 

 No specimen so named was found in the Trinius 

 Herbarium. 

 Panicum nodosum Willd.; Steud. Nom. Bot. 

 ed. 2. 2: 260. 1841. This is given as a synonym of Panicum bulbosum and credited 

 to "Willd. hrb." The type, in the Willdenow Herbarium, is P. bulbosum. 



Panicum maximum gongylodes Doell in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 2 : 203. 1877. Based on P. 

 gongylodes Jacq. 



Panicum maximum bulbosum Vasey in Wheeler, Rep. U. S. Surv. 100th Merid. 6: 

 295. 1878. Presumably based on P. bulbosum H. B. K. "Jacq." is erroneously given 

 as authority for the combination. 



Panicum poly gamum gongylodes Fourn. Mex. PI. 2: 28. 1886. Based on "P. gon- 

 gylodes Jacq." 



Panicum bulbosum avenaceum Beal, Grasses N. Amer. 2: 132. 1896. Based on P. 

 avenaceum H. B. K. 



Fournier& gives a "S. -var. violaceum" under P. bulbosum H. B. K., citing "Chi- 

 nantla, in pratis (Liebm[ann] n. 451) " but giving no description. A specimen of this 

 number was examined at Halle. There is also a specimen of the same in the United 

 States National Herbarium bearing the name in Fournier's writing. 



Fig. 71. — P. bulbosum. 

 specimen. 



From type 



DESCRIPTION. 



Plants in tufts of few to several culms, 1 to 2 meters high; culms robust, erect, gla- 

 brous, the lowest internode thickened into a hard, corm-like base, 1 to 2 cm. thick, 

 budding at the base, sometimes one or more corms of previous years attached; sheaths 

 shorter than the internodes, glabrous or scabrous to pilose toward the summit, the 

 lower often appressed-pubescent at base; ligules scarcely 1 mm. long; blades erect 

 or ascending, flat, 25 to 60 cm. long, 3 to 12 mm. wide, scabrous on the upper 

 surface, often pilose toward the base, glabrous beneath; panicles long-exserted, 20 

 to 50 cm. long, usually about half as wide, rather many-flowered, the slender, flex- 

 uous branches ascending or somewhat spreading, solitary or fascicled, naked at the 

 base, the branchlets 1 to several cm. long, bearing scarcely clustered, rather short- 

 pediceled spikelets, the axes and pedicels very scabrous; spikelets 3.5 to 4-.2 mm. 

 long, 1.2 to 1.4 mm. wide, slightly pointed, more strongly nerved than in P. maxi- 

 mum, glabrous, commonly purplish ; first glume half to two-thirds the length of the 

 spikelet, bluntly pointed, 3-nerved; second glume shorter than the fruit and sterile 

 lemma, the latter rarely inclosing a staminate flower; fruit 3.2 to 4 mm. long, nar- 



aThis name was listed without description in Brouss. Elench. Hort. Monsp. 42. 

 1805. We have not been able to verify this reference. ■ ' 



Hlex. PI. 2:27.1886. 



