HITCHCOCK AND CHASE- — NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 



211 



Fig. 215.— P. mcridionale. From 

 type specimen. 



type could not be found in Ashe's herbarium, nor any specimens so named by him. 

 The description seems to apply to the autumnal form of P. meridionale, though the 

 culms and sheaths described as "glabrous or pubescent, " seems to indicate that some 

 material of P. tenue or other species of the Ensifolia was mixed with it. 



Panicum unciphyllum meridionale Scribn. & Merr. Rhodora 3: 123. 1901. Based 

 on P. meridionale Ashe. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Vernal form tufted; culms 15 to 40 cm. high, pilose below, the upper portion and 

 the axis of the panicle appressed-pubescent, or the latter often nearly glabrous; lower 

 sheaths pilose, upper minutely appressed-pubescent; ligules 3 to 4 mm. long; blades 

 1.5 to 4 cm. long, 2 to 4 mm. wide, long-pilose on the upper surface, the hairs erect, 

 less dense than in P. implicatum; panicles 1.5 to 4 cm. long, nearly or quite as wide, 

 ovate or rhombic, the branches ascending; spikelets 1.3 to 1.4 mm. long, 0.8 mm. wide, 

 obovate, obtuse, minutely papillose-pubescent; first glume one-fourth to one-third the 

 length of the spikelet, acute or subacute; second glume and sterile lemma equal, as 

 long as the fruit at maturity; fruit 1.2 mm. long, 0.8 mm. 

 wide; broadly elliptic, obscurely pointed. 



Autumnal form erect or nearly so, with fascicled 

 branchlets from all the nodes; leaves and panicles not 

 greatly reduced, the latter included late in the season; 

 winter leaves lanceolate, long-pilose toward the base, the 

 rosette formed rather late. 



This species resembles P. implicatum in the vernal form 

 but is more slender and less pilose. The axis of the 

 panicle in P. implicatum is pilose, while in P. meridionale it is typically glabrous or 

 somewhat puberulent but not pilose. 



A late autumnal specimen, Chase 1472, Irondale, Chicago, 111;, is referred here, 

 doubtfully, because of the scanty pubescence, but the presence of papillse suggests 

 that the hairs have been worn off; the spikelets are 1.4 mm. long. 



Exceptional specimens pilose in the panicle closely approach slender specimens of 

 P. implicatum. This form is represented by Wheeler 24 and 28. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Sandy or sterile woods and clearings, Rhode Island to Wisconsin and south to 

 Alabama. 



Connecticut: Waterford, Graves 171, 172; South Glastonbury, Wilson 1258. 

 Rhode Island: Kingston, Collins 



in 1908. 

 New York: Lawrence, Bichnell in 



1902 and 1906; Valley Stream, 



Bichnell in 1905; Hempstead, 



Bichnell in 1908;' Hewlett, 



Bichnell in 1906; Woodmere, 



Bichnell in 1902. 

 New Jersey: Oradell, Mackenzie 



2477; Atsion, Chase 3534^; 



South Amboy, Mackenzie 2710 . 

 Pennsylvania: Refton, Heller 



4790. 

 Indiana: Lake County, Bebb 2815, 2936, 2947; Dune Park, Hill 98 in 1905, 



Umbach 1087, 1800. 

 Illinois: Chicago, Sill 145 in 1906. 



Fig. 216.— Distribution of P. meridionale. 



