HITCHCOCK AND CHASE — NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 



239 



rounded base, acuminate, appressed-pubescent beneath, sparsely hispid on the upper 

 surface, usually a few long hairs at the base; panicles short-exserted, usually 

 included at the base, until maturity, rather densely flowered, 4 to 7 cm. long, about 

 two-thirds as wide, the branches ascending; spikelets 2.2 to 2.3 mm. long, 1.2 mm. 

 wide, obovate, obtuse or minutely pointed; first glume about one-fourth as long as 

 the spikelet, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma papillose-pubescent, strongly- 

 nerved, subequal, as long as the fruit, the margins at the summit usually inrolled, the 

 midnerve produced into an apiculus; fruit 1.9 mm. long, 1.1mm. wide, elliptic. 



Autumnal form erect or spreading, culms sparingly branching from the upper and 

 middle nodes after the maturity of the primary panicle, the stiff, reduced blades 

 involute-pointed, much exceeding the panicles. 



This species is less pubescent than 

 any other in this group except P. oc- 

 cidentale. The smoother specimens 

 somewhat resemble P. boreale. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Dry sandy or gravelly soil, Vermont 

 to Delaware; also in Minnesota; ap- 

 parently rare. 



Vermont: Hartland, Jones 30. 

 Connecticut: Southington, Bissell 

 385, 5581, 8084; East Lyme, 

 Graves in 1903 (Hitchcock 

 Herb.). 



Indiana: Gary, Umbach 3686. 

 Minnesota: Hennepin County, Sandberg in 1890; Ramsey County, Oestlund in 



1884 in part. 

 Delaware: Centerville, Commons 283, 359. 



Fig. 254.— Distribution of P. scoparioides. 



141. Panicum shastense Scrib. & Merr. 



Panicum shastense Scribn. & Merr. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Circ.35: 3. 1901. 

 ''Type specimens collected in a moist meadow at the edge of pine forests at Castle 

 Crag, near Mt. Shasta, California, by Louis A. Greata, June, 1899." The type, in the 



National Herbarium, consists of three vernal 

 culms, 25 to 30 cm. high, with short-exserted, 

 nearly mature panicles. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Vernal form pale green; culms tufted, 30 to 50 

 cm. high, slender, ascending from a more or less 

 geniculate base, papillose-pilose with ascending 

 hairs; nodes short-bearded; sheaths papillose- 

 pilose, the hairs spreading; hairs of the ligule 

 rather sparse, 2 to 3 mm. long; blades ascending, 

 6 to 8 cm. long, 6 to 8 mm. wide, acuminate, scarcely narrowed toward the base, 

 papillose-pilose on the under surface and with scattered long hairs on the upper; 

 panicles short-exserted, 6 to 8 cm. long, about two-thirds as wide, the axis pilose, the 

 flexuous branches ascending; spikelets 2.4 to 2.6 mm. long, 1.2 to 1.4 mm. wide, 

 obovate-oblong, obtuse, papillose-pubescent; first glume one-fourth to one-third as 

 long as the spikelet, pointed; second glume scarcely equaling the fruit and sterile 

 lemma; fruit 2.1 mm. long, 1.3 mm. wide, elliptic. 



Fig. 255.— P. shastense. From type 

 specimen. 



