300 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



description and are from the locality as published. These specimens all are the 

 autumnal form, with the reduced panicles partially inclosed in the sheaths. 



An earlier Panicum cryptanthum "Nuttall. Gen." is a nomen nudum. It is men- 

 tioned without description under Panicum cynodon Reichardt 

 by Hillebrand« as a name in Kew Herbarium. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Vernal form cespitose; culms erect, 80 to 100 cm. high, 

 glabrous except the usually bearded nodes; sheaths glabrous 

 or the lowermost sparsely hirsute, the upper somewhat in- 

 flated, all more or less ciliate on the margins and pilose at 

 the summit; ligules membranaceous, erose, scarcely 0.5 mm. 

 long; blades stiff, ascending or spreading, acuminate, invo- 

 lute-pointed, glabrous, sparingly ciliate at base, 10 to 15 cm. 



long, 7 to 9 mm. wide; panicles short-exserted, 6 to 10 cm. long, nearly as wide, the 



■ axis ;/ and ascending branches viscid-spotted; spikelets 2.2 to 2.4 mm. long, 1 mm. 



wide, lanceolate-elliptic, pointed; first glume one-fourth to one-third as long as the 



spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma equal, longer than the fruit and pointed 



beyond it, glabrous or sparsely pilose; fruit 1.5 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, elliptic. 

 Autumnal form erect, glabrate on the nodes, sparingly branching from the middle 



and upper nodes, the branches stiffly ascending at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees; blades 



flat, stiffly ascending, 2 to 5 cm. long, 



3 to 5 mm. wide, involute-pointed; 



panicles reduced to a narrow cluster 



partially hidden in the sheaths. 

 The habit of this species suggests a 



small P. scabriusculum. 



Fig. 340.— P. cryptanthum. 

 From type specimen. 



Fig. 341.— Distribution of P. cryptanthum. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Low swampy ground, North Carolina 

 to northern Florida, also in Texas; rare. 

 New Jersey: Atlantic City, Long 

 in 1909 (Phila. Acad. Herb.). 

 North Carolina: Wilsons Mills, Ashe in 1897; Wilmington, Hitchcock 371, 1469. 

 South Carolina: Orangeburg, Hitchcock 1377. 

 Georgia: Belair, Eggert in 1899 (Mo. Bot. Gard. Herb.). 

 Florida: De Funiak Springs, Combs 444. 

 Texas: Kountze, Nealley 37 in 1892. 



Commutata. — Culms rather stout; glabrous or puberulent; ligules obsolete or nearly 

 so; blades usually 1 cm. or more wide (often narrower in P. ashei and P. 

 equilaterale) , cordate and more or less ciliate at base; spikelets 2.4 to 3.2 mm. 

 long, elliptic, not very turgid, pubescent, 7 to 9-nerved. Autumnal form 

 usually not very freely branching. 

 Plants glaucous, glabrous; basal blades conspicuously ciliate; 



vernal culms usually solitary 185. P. mutabile. 



Plants not glaucous. 



Blades nearly linear, that is with parallel margins; first 

 glume about half as long as the spikelet. 

 Primary panicles long-exserted; sheaths mottled 



with white 188. P. albomaculatum. 



«F1. Hawaiian Isl. 498. 1888. 



