HITCHCOCK AND CHASE — NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 201 



Spikelets 1.3 mm. long or less. 



Culms and sheaths glabrous 119. P. longiligula- 



tum. 

 Culms and sheaths appressed-pubescent. 



Spikelets 1.2 to 1.3 mm. long 118. P. leucothrix. 



Spikelets not over 1 mm. long 120. P. wrightianum. 



116. Panicum spretum Schult. 



Panicum spretum Schult. Mant. 2: 248. 1824. Based on " Miihlenb. Descr. ub. p. 

 125. n. 37. (sine nomine)." Muhlenberg's description is copied, but slightly rear- 

 ranged, and the locality "N. Anglica" also copied. The type specimen, in the 

 Muhlenberg Herbarium, is a vernal culm labeled "No. 2. Panicum an capillare ? In 

 moist ground. Mon. 184. M. 116a." On the folio "N. Angl." is written after this 

 number. 



Panicum nitidum densiflorum Rand & Redfield, Fl. Mt. Desert 174. 1894. "Shore 

 of Ripples Pond (Rand)." The type, in Rand's herbarium, collected July 28, 1892, 

 has a narrow many-flowered panicle with pubescent spikelets like the above- 

 mentioned plant in the Muhlenberg Herbarium. 



Panicum eatoni Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 84. 1898. Collected by "Alvah A. 

 Eaton * * * at Seabrook, N. H." The type, in Nash's herbarium, consists of 

 two vernal culms with spikelets measuring 1.5 to 1.6 mm. long. 



Panicum octonodum Smith, U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Bull. 17 : 73,/. 369. June 

 30,1899. "Texas." This species was republished o with more complete description 

 as "Panicum octonodum Scribn. & Smith, sp. nov.," with the following citation: 

 "Waller County, Texas. Collected by F. W. Thurow, May 5, 1898." The type, in 

 the National Herbarium, is a wholly glabrous vernal plant with glabrous spikelets 

 1.5 mm. long. 



Panicum paucipilum Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 26 : 573. 1899. "Type collected by 

 Mr. E. P. Bicknell, at Wildwood, New Jersey, May 30 and 31, 1897." The type, in 

 Nash's herbarium, consists of four vernal culms, beginning to branch at the middle 

 nodes, the sheaths sparsely ciliate toward the summit, the spikelets pubescent, 1.4 to 

 1.5 mm. long. Panicum paucipilum was described as differing from P. eatoni in 

 having "much smaller spikelets with the first scale glabrous." 



Panicum nitidum octonodum Scribn. & Merr. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Bull. 

 24: 34. 1901. Based on P. octonodum Smith. 



Panicum spretum has been referred to Panicum nitidum Lam. and was discussed by 

 Scribner& in an article on that species. Scribner, however, based his identification 

 of the latter upon a tracing made by A. H. Baldwin of a specimen in the Michaux 

 Herbarium. The type of P. nitidum Lam.c is in the Lamarck Herbarium and is 

 different from P. spretum. The plant from which Baldwin's tracing was made is 

 P. angustifolium or a closely allied species. d 



DESCRIPTION. 



A r ernal culms tufted, 30 to 90 cm. high, erect or slightly decumbent at base, some- 

 times sending out rootlets from the lower nodes, glabrous, the nodes swollen; sheaths 

 loose, shorter than the internodes, usually ciliate on the margin toward the summit, 

 otherwise glabrous, or the lower sometimes slightly pubescent; ligules 2 to 3 mm. long; 

 blades firm, ascending or often reflexed, 7 to 10 cm. long, 4 to 8 mm. wide, sparingly 



oU. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Circ. 16: 5. July 1, 1899. 

 & U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Bull. 24 : 31. 1901. 

 c See p. 183. 

 <*See Hitchcock, Contr. Nat. Herb. 12 : 148. 1908. 



