HITCHCOCK AND CHASE NOKTPI AMEEICAN PANICUM. 



159 



Fig. 145. — Distribution of P. laxiflorum. 



the margins, or sparsely ciliate; panicles long-exserted, but sometimes equaled by 

 the long upper blades, 8 to 12 cm. long, nearly as wide, lax, few-flowered, the 

 branches flexuous, spreading, the lower often deflexed; spikelets -2.2 to 2.3 mm. long, 

 1.2 mm. wide, oblong-obovate, obtuse, first glume one-third to two-fifths as long as 

 thespikelet; second glume and sterile lemma equal and covering the fruit at maturity, 

 papillose-pilose; fruit 1.8 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, minutely umbonate. 



Autumnal form branching at the base, forming soft, spreading tufts, the sheaths 

 overlapping and the blades but little or not at all reduced, much exceeding the sec- 

 ondary panicles; spikelets more turgid and obtuse than the primary ones. 



A specimen collected by Lester F. and Rosarnond Ward at Palatka, Fla., in 1891, 

 and another from Dr. Chapman, collected in Florida, without locality or date, have 

 pilose blades like those of P. xalapense; 

 the spikelets are 2.2 to 2.3 mm. long, 

 and the fruit is covered by the equal 

 second glume and sterile lemma. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Rich or damp woods, Georgia to 

 Florida and Alabama. 



Georgia: Stone Mountain, Eggert 

 42; Ocmulgee River Swamp, 

 below Macon, Small in 1895. 



Florida: Monticello, Combs 327; 

 Lake City, Nash 2156, Hitch- 

 cock 1009; Gainesville, Chase 4217, Comhs 743; Mabel, Curtiss 6635 in part,;a 

 Grasmere, Combs 1064; Spruce Creek, Curtiss in 1885; Manatee, Tracy 7383; 

 Palmetto, Tracy 6707; Eustis, Nash 239, 2034; Orange Bend, Chase 4101; 

 Dunnellon, Comfts 909, Titusville, C/iase 4023; Ormond, Hitchcock HI. 



Alabama: Springhill, Ji/o/j?- in 1895. 



i/ 87. Panicum xalapense H. B. K. 



Panicum xalapense H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 103. 1816. "Crescit in regno 

 Mexicano prope Xalapa et montem Macultepec." The type, in the Bonpland Herba- 

 rium, is labeled, "In regno Mexicano prope xalapa, regione temperata." 



Panicum pumilum Bosc; Nees, Agrost. Bras. 228. 1829, not Lam. 1798. "(Herb. 

 Willd.) Habitat in America boreali;" This is mentioned as a synonym under P. laxi- 

 florum Lam. The specimen referred to, in the Willdenow Herbarium, is the vernal 

 form. 



Panicum rariflorum Rupr. Bull. Acad. Roy. Belg. 9^: 240.- 1842, not Lam. 1798. 

 "(Coll. H. Gal[eotti] No. 5733). Nous avons trouve cette nouvelle esp^ce * * * 

 pres de Xalapa." This is a nomen nudum. The type, in the Brussels Herbarium, is ■ 

 a poor specimen, but undoubtedly belongs to this species. 



Panicum ruprechti Fourn. Mex. PI. 2: 21. 1886, not Fenzl, 1854. This name is 

 basedon the type of P. rari^orum Rupr., "(Gal[eotti] n.5733)." It was earlier listed 

 without description by Hemsley,& based on "Panicum rariflorum Rupr. * * * 

 non Lam.," that is, a nomen nudum based on a nomen nudum. 



Panicum caricifolium Scribn.; Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15:^ 57. 1898. 

 This is given as a synonym of P. laxiflorum La,m. "As distributed by Kearney 



« Curtiss included P. xalapense also under this number. U. S. National Herbarium 

 no. 388470 is a sheet of Curtiss 6635, with a tuft of each species. 

 ^Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 495. 1885. 

 cThe title page, vol. 15, pt. 1 (pp. 1-75) is incorrectly numbered 4 (IV). 



