N>. 2. 

 PANICUM BtLBOSUM H. B. K. 



Roof-stock creeping, slightly branding, the yearly growth short (commonly 

 \ inch), base of the culm becoming enhrged into a corm f to f inch long, or some- 

 times nearly wanting. Roots simple, strong. 



Culms erect, single or few togethe' in a loose clump, slender or stout (some- 

 times i inch thick), simple, glabrous, glaucous at the nodes. 



Leaves with striate blades 1 to 4 ines broad. Radical few, commonly 1 to 2 

 feet long; sheath elongated, loose, glab-ous or the margins sometimes ciliate; blade 

 glabrous or very sparingly hirsute st the base, slender-acuminate at the apex: 

 ligule short, fimbriate. Sheaths of 'he stem 2 to 4, not contiguous, sheathing, 

 glabrous; blades as in the radical leavis. 



Inflorescence an exsert-peduncuhte, usually open panicle 9 to 20 inches long; 

 main axis glabrous or occasionally scabrous, pubescent at the forks; spikelets 

 borne singly on short, scabrous pedieds, or sometimes sessile. 



Spikelets l£ to 2 lines long, marly terete, ellipticablanceolate to oblong, 

 bluntly acute. 



Glumes 4. glabrous, membranaceous; purple or pale green; 2 lower empty; 

 first broadly ovate, acute, 3- to 7-ner^ed, frequently unsymmetrically, one-third to 

 one-half the length of the spikelet; second as long as the spikelet, oblong, bluntly 

 acute, 5- to 7-nerved. 



Flowers 2. Lower staminate; glume like the second empty glume; palet hyaline, 

 thin-membranaceous, 2-nerved. Upper flower hermaphrodite; glume coriaceous, 

 minutely corrugated, obsoletely few-nerved, acute; palet 2-nerved, similar intext- 

 ure to the glume; stamens 3; styles long. 



Plate II; «, three spikelets enlarged; b, spikelet opened to show the parts; 

 c, portion of the base of the culm, and the corm of the preceding year. On the 

 left, in b, in order from below, are tha lower empty glume, first flowering glume, and 

 palet of the staminate flower, on tie right the second empty glume, the second 

 flowering glume, and to the left of the stamens and pistil the palet of the fertile 

 flower. 



This grass should be one of great agricultural value. Its bulbous rootstocks 

 contain a store of moisture which enables it to endure a protracted drought, and as 

 it grows of large size it would produce a great amount of fodder. 



