626 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Figure 908. — Paspalum convexum. (Palmer 592 in 

 1886; Mexico.) 



lemma strongly longitudinally 

 ridged. 

 Paspalum malacdphyllum Trim 

 Ribbed paspalum. Culm-; rather 

 coarse, 1 to 2 m. tall; blades flat, 8 to 

 35 mm. wide, the lower narrowed to a 

 slender base; panicles nodding, the 

 usually numerous racemes approxi- 

 mate; spikelets 1.8 to 2 mm. long, 

 glabrous; second glume wanting; fer- 

 tile lemma strongly ridged. % — 

 Mexico to Bolivia and Argentina. In- 

 troduced in the Southern States. Oc- 

 casionally grown for hay and some- 

 times used in soil conservation work. 



Figure 909. — Paspalum bifidum. Panicle, X 1; two 

 views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. (Curtiss 5590, 

 Fla.) 



137. PlNICUM L. Panicum 



Spikelets more or less compressed dorsiventrally, in open or compact pani- 

 cles, rarely racemes; glumes 2, herbaceous, nerved, usually very unequal, the 

 first often minute, the second typically equaling the sterile lemma, the latter 

 of the same texture and simulating a third glume, bearing in its axil a mem- 

 branaceous or hyaline palea and sometimes a staminate flower, the palea 

 rarely wanting; fertile lemma chartaceous-indurate, tj^pically obtuse, the 

 nerves obsolete, the margins inrolled over an enclosed palea of the same 

 texture. Annuals or perennials of various habit. Type species, Panicum 

 miliaceum. Panicum, an old Latin name for the common millet (Setaria 

 italica) . 



Panicum miliaceum, proso millet, is cultivated to a limited extent in this 

 country for forage. In Europe it is sometimes cultivated for the seed which is 

 used for food. Two species are commonly cultivated in the lowland tropics for 

 forage, P. maximum, Guinea grass, an African species, said to have been intro- 

 duced into Jamaica in 1774, and P. purpurascens, Para grass, introduced into 

 Brazil from Africa. Certain native species are constituents of wild hay or of 



