44 Bulletin VII. 1. 



Var. (a) vulgaris. Culms stout, sheaths densely hirsute, panicle a 

 foot long or more, the branches widely spreading at maturity, often 

 becoming deflexed with age; spikelets long pedicelled and dark 

 purple, as are sometimes the capillary panicle-branches. This is 

 a common form in sandy cultivated fields and gardens It is the 

 variety agresie of Dr. Gattinger (Tennessee Flora, p. 94). 



Var. {b) canipestre Gatt. (1. c.) Plate X. Figure 38. Less stout, 

 the ascending, leafy culms branching throughout, sheaths pubes- 

 cent; the numerous panicles oval or elliptical, rarely exceeding six 

 inches in length. Whole plant rather pale green. Common along 

 roadsides and cultivated grounds, waste places, etc., — the most 

 common form according to Dr. Gattinger. This may be Panicum 

 Philadelphicum Bernh. ex. Nees. It is P. capillare var. geniculaimn 

 Scribner. 



Var. mi7iimum Engel. Plate X. Figure 39. Low and slender, 

 usually geniculate at the lower joints and much branched below, 

 rarely a foot high; sheaths long-pilose, leaves two tofour inches long, 

 one to three lines wide, panicle oval or pyramidal, few-flowered, 

 the small spikelets mostly approximate in pairs or threes near the 

 tips of the spreading branches, their rather short (usually not 

 longer than the spikelet) pedicels appressed. A dwarf, slender 

 variety, usually pale green throughout, the lateral spikelets of the 

 panicle-branches about the length of their appressed pedicels. 

 Frequent in dry, usually poor soils, over the State. 



None of the forms have any agricultural value, but are rather to 

 be considered as weeds. 



12. Panicum flexile Scribner. 



Plate X. Figure 40. 



A rather slender erect annual, usually branched and geniculate 

 near the base, one to two feet high, with flat leaves, an open capil- 

 lary panicle and rather distant, acute spikelets. Culms pilose or 

 bearded at the nodes. Sheaths more or less pilose, the lower some- 

 times hirsute with spreading hairs; ligule very short, its margin 

 ciliate-f ringed; leaf-blade narrow-lanceolate or linear, three to ten 

 inches long, one and one-half to four (usually two to three) lines 

 wide, sparsely hairy on both sides, rarely smooth, scabrous on the 

 margins, which are long-pilose near the base, very aciite. Pani- 

 cle five to twelve inches long, narrow-ovate in outline, branches 

 ascending the scabrous spreading pedicels much longer than the 

 lanceolate, acuminate-pointed spikelets. Spikelets one and one- 

 half lines long; first glume clasping, triangular, obtuse or acute, 

 one- to three-nerved, about one-third the length of the nearly equal 

 second and third glumes, which are five- to seven-nerved; flower- 

 ing glume narrow, elliptical, subacute, about one-fourth shorter 

 than the larger outer glumes. Dry, sandy soil, common in open 

 pine woods, cedar glades, etc., less frequent in fields. July to Oc- 

 tober. 



Dr. Gattinger remarks that this grass "is characteristic of the 

 cedar glades," and refers to its resemblance to P. autumnale. In 

 that species, however, the leaves are shorter, more rigid, and the 



