166 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Autumnal blades involute; lower panicle branches more 

 or less ascending. 



Spikelets 3.3 to 3.5 mm. long, pointed 95. P. fusiforme. 



Spikelets less than 3 mm. long, not pointed, or ob- 

 scurely so. 

 Plants glabrous or nearly so; autumnal culms 

 erect. 

 Spikelets subsecund along the suberect pan- 

 icle branches 98. P. neuranthum. 



Spikelets not subsecund; panicle loose and 



open 97. P. ovinum. 



Plants pubescent, at least on the lower half. 



Spikelets about 2.4 mm., rarely only 2.1 mm. 

 long; vernal blades 7 to 12 cm. long; 



autumnal blades not falcate 96. P. arenicoloides. 



Spikelets not over 2 mm. long; vernal blades 

 4 to 6 cm; long, autumnal blades much 

 crowded, falcate 91. P. aciculare. 



91. Parricum aciculare Desv. 



Panicum aciculare Desv.; Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 4:274. 1816. "Cette 

 plante croit dans les Indes orientales. (V. s. in herb. Desv.)" Poiret cites "P. acicu- 

 lare Desv. Herb." The type is in the Paris Herbarium. It is from the Desvaux 

 Herbarium and is labeled in Desvaux's handwriting "Panicum aciculare Desv. in 

 Enc. Suppl. 4. p. 274. habitat in india orientali." It is the autumnal form and is evi- 

 dently the specimen described. The locality is certainly an error, as no such plant is 

 known from the East Indies, and the specimen is without doubt from the southeastern 

 United States. a 



Panicum setaceum Muhl. Descr. Gram. 99. 1817. "Habitat in Georgia." The type, 

 in the Muhlenberg Herbarium, is in a folio marked: "151 Panicum pungens M. 97 

 Elliott, 358." Panicum pungens in the herbarium stands in the same relation to the 

 other species as does P. setaceum in Muhlenberg's book.& In the herbarium folio 151 

 is the first of the Panicums. In the book P. setaceum is the first species described under 

 this genus. Likewise the sequence in the two places is essentially the same. The 

 specimen, which is the autumnal form, agrees with Muhlenberg's description of P. 

 setaceum. 



Panicum subunifiorum Bosc; Spreng. Syst. Veg. 1: 312. 1825. " Carc-lin." In the 

 Delessert Herbarium is a specimen from "Carolina" collected by Bosc. In the Will- 

 denow Herbarium is another fragmentary specimen labeled P. subunifiorum Bosc, but 

 without locality or collector. The latter may be the type. 



Panicum arenicolum[cola] Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 56. 1898. "Type 

 material collected by the writer at Chapel Hill, N. C. June 1898." The type could 

 not be found in Ashe's herbarium. In Hitchcock's herbarium is a specimen labeled 

 ' ' Panicum arenaecolum Ashe " collected in the vicinity of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 

 by W. W. Ashe, and sent by him to Professor Scribner. The date of collection is not 

 given. This specimen, which is probably a duplicate type, consists of two vernal 

 culms, somewhat appressed-pubescent below; the stiffly ascending blades are gla- 

 brous except the lowermost, which is sparsely pubescent beneath. 



Panicum filiram[e]um Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 16:88. 1900. "Sandy 

 woods, eastern North Carolina. Type material collected in New Hanover County, 



a Several cases of erroneous localities occur in Desvaux's herbarium. See Panicum, 

 illinonense Desv. under P.fasciculatum. 



& Compare U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Circ. 27: 2. 1900. 



