The Grasses of Tennessee. H 



erect, densely lowered, racemose branches one-half to one inch 

 lon^. Spikelets one and one-half to two lines long", broadly lance- 

 olate or elliptical-ovate, obtuse or subacute, smooth. First j^lume 

 narrow, obtuse or acute, three-nerved, about one half a line lonjj; 

 second ^uflume obtuse, jjibbous at the base, eleven-nerved, the third 

 ^lume as lon^ as the second, seven-nerved, with a two-nerved ])a- 

 lea of nearly equal length; the fourth or Moral j^lume smooth and 

 shining, about one-half as long as the larger outer glumes. 



Low wet grounds. Henderson (S. M. Bain, August, 1892), Hi- 

 wassee valley (A. Ruth. September, 1S93). Dr. Chapman gives 

 *'Swamps, Florida to North Carolina," as the range of this species. 



7. Panicum anceps Michx. 



Plate VIIT. Figure 82. 



A rather stout perennial, with flattened stems, two to four feet 

 high, long leaves and spreading panicles. Culms smooth, simple 

 or branched, from very strong, scaly rootstocks. vSheaths com- 

 pressed, especially the lower ones, usually shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, smooth or more or less pilose with rather long soft hairs; 

 ligule short, membranous; leaf-blade linear-lanceolate, very acute, 

 six to twenty-four inches long, two to five lines wide, smooth or 

 often pilose-hairy on the inner side towards the base, serrulate, 

 scabrous along the margins. Panicle pyramidal, terminal on the 

 culm or its branches, the rather rigid, solitary branches branched 

 to the base, the secondary branches usually appressed. Spikelets 

 crowded, ovate, lanceolate, acute, more or less curved, about one 

 and one-half lines long, exceeding their rough-scabrous pedicels; 

 first glume clasping the base of the spikelet, acute, less than one- 

 half as long as the second glume, three-nerved, the strong middle 

 nerve curved and scabrous above; second glume broadly lanceolate, 

 acute, five- to seven-nerved, about the length of the five-nerved 

 third glume, which has a two-nerved palea in its axil; fourth or 

 flowering glume elliptical, oblong, about one-third shorter than 

 the larger outer glumes, its obtuse apex usually bearing a minute 

 tuft of hairs. Palea of the third glume ciliate along the nerves. 

 Common in sandy, usually moist grounds, along streams, etc. 

 August to October. 



In luxuriant plants the panicle is sometimes two feet long. In 

 open fields this grass grows in scattered tufts or patches, the 

 flowering stems sometimes springing up in a circle around a sod 

 formed in previous years by the short but strongly matted rhizomes, 

 all vegetation being choked out in the central space. Apparently 

 of little agricultural value. 



8. Panicum agrostoides Muhl. Munro-grass or Red-top Panic. 



Plate IX. Figure 38. 



A rather stout leafy perennial with somewhat flattened, branch- 

 ing, smooth culms two to four feet high, and open panicles which 

 somewhat resemble those of red top (A^rostis a/' a). Sheaths com- 

 pressed, especially those of the sterile shoots, longer than the 

 internodes, smooth, usually hairy at the throat; ligule membrana- 



