GRAMIKEiE. (gEASS FAMILT.) 677 



flower cither neutral or etaminate, of one palea which closely resembles the np- 

 per glume, and sometimes with a second thin one. Upper flower perfect, closed, 

 coriaceous or cartilaginous, usually flattish parallel with the glumes, awnless, 

 enclosing the free and grooveless grain. Stamens S. Stigmas plumose, usually 

 purple. (An ancient Latin name of the Italian Millet, P. Italicum (now Seta- 

 ria Italica), thought to come from pants, bread ; some species famishing a kind 

 of brcad-coiTi.) 



i 1 . DIGIT Aria, Scop. — Spikekts crowded 2-3 togetlier in simple and mostly 

 l-sided clustered spikes or spike-like racemes, wholly awnless and pointless : Iowa- 

 JJoiver neutral, of a single palea : lower glume minute, sometimes obsolete or want- 

 ing: root annual: plant often purplish. 



* Spikes erect; t!te rhaehis filifirm, nearly terete. 



1. P. filifdrme, L. Culms very slender (l°-2° high), upright; lower 

 sh()jiths hairy ; spikes 2-8, alternate and approximated, filiform ; spikelets ob- 

 long, acute (J" long) ; upper glume equalling the flower, the lower almost 

 wanting. — Dry sandy soil, Massachusetts to New Jersey along the coast, lUi- 

 nois, and southward. Aug. 



* * Spikes spreading ; the rhachisflat and thin. 



2. P. glAbkum, Gaudin. Culms spreading, prostrate, or sometimes erect 

 (5' -12' long), glabrous ; spiJces 2-6, widely diverging, ■a&a.-Ay AigitaXi; spikelets 

 ovoid (about 1" long) ; upper glume equalling the flower, the lower one almost want- 

 ing. — Cultivated grounds and waste places ; common southward, and not rare 

 northward : in some places appearing as if indigenous, but probably an intro- 

 duced plant. Aug., Sept. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. P. sanouinAle, L. (Common Ckab-Gkass. Fingee-Geass.) Culms 

 erect or spreading (l°-2°high); leaves and sheaths glabrous or hairy; spikes 

 4-15, sprearfi'nj', digitate; spikelets oblong (l^"long); upper glume half the length 

 of the flower, the lower one small. — Cultivated and waste grounds, and yards ; 

 common. (Nat. from Eu.) 



§ 2. PANICUM Peopbk. — Spikelets scattered, in panicles, awnless. 

 * Panicle dongated and racemose, wand-like or pyramidal ; the numerous and usually 



pointed spikdets short-pedicelled, exciting No. 7. 



•<- Sterile flower neutral, fully twice the length of the lower glume : spikdets small 



{not more than 1" or 1^" long). 



++ Neutral flower consisting of 2 palece. 



4. P. dnccps, Michx. Culms flat, upright (2° -4° high); leaves rather 

 broadly linear (1°- 2° long, 4"- 5" wide), smooth; panicle contracted-pyram- 

 idal ; spikdets ovate-lanceolate, pointed, a little curved ; upper glume 7 -nerved; 

 neutral flower J longer than the perfect one. 1|. — Wet soil, pine barrens of 

 New Jersey to Virginia, and southward. Aug. — Allied to the next : spUcelets 

 and branches of the panicle longer. 



5_ p, agrostoldes, Spreng. Culms flattened, upright (2° high) ; leaves 

 lono- and with the sheaths smooth ; panicles terminal and often lateral, pyram- 

 idal (4' -8' long) ; the spikelets racemose, crowded and one-sided on the spread- 

 ing branches, ovate-oblong, acute (pui-plish) ; upper glume 5-nerved, longer than the 

 49 



