403 



^VEEDS AXD USEFUL PLAXTS. 



closing the free and grooTcless grain. Stamens 3. Stig7nas plumose, 

 usually purple. The species here enumerated are all annual. 



^SpiJceJets crowded 2-3 together in simple one-sided digitate-fasdclcd spikes : 

 neutral jloret of a single palea : lower glume minute or wanting. 



1. P. sanguina'le, L. Spikes 4 - 15 ; upper glume half the length of the 

 flower ; the lower one small. 



Bloody (or Pueple) Paxicum. Crab Grass. Finger Grass. 



CvJm decumbent. 1-2 feet long, someTvliat brancMng from the sheaths, geniculate, 

 glabrous, radicating at the lower nodes. L&jves 1 or 2 - 6 or S inches long, softly pilose ; 

 shmtlis strigosely hairy, sometimes smooth : ligule short, truncate, or ovate and acute, 

 white or often tinged with purple. Spikes 2 or b - 6 inches in length', often in 2 fascicles or 

 verticils a httle distant from each other, becoming purple ; radiis flat, flexuose, scabrous 

 on the margin. SpikddLs m pairs, appre'ssed, in 2 rows on the outer or under side of the 

 rachis, on short pedicels, — the lower ones subsessile. 



Gardens and cultivated grounds : throughout the United States. Fl. July -September, 

 Ir. August -October. 



Ohs. In the middle States, this is a troublesome Grass in Gardens, in 

 the latter part of summer : and is frequent, also, in Indian Corn-fields, — 

 but not difficult to be kept in reasonable subjection, by the early and 

 free use^of the ■•' cultivator.'' Cattle will eat it, — but do not appear to 

 be particularly fond of it : and indeed it is generally choked out of good 

 pastures, by the prevalence of more acceptable grasses. It is said to be 

 a serious pest, in the cultivated grounds of the Southern planters. Mr. 

 Elliott — than whom there can be no better authority — has the follow- 

 ing remarks on this plant : — Grows everywhere on lauds not inundated. 

 Well known to planters under the name of Crab or Crop grass. It is 

 the most troublesome grass our planters have to encounter in high 

 ground culture, and though an annual, it is the best grass for hay at 

 present known in our low country.'' 



2. P. o:lahrum, Gaudin. Spikes 2 - 6, widely diverging ; upper glume 

 equalling the floret ; the lower almost wanting. 



Smooth Pas'iccij. Smooth Crab Grass. 



(7«7?7i 6-12 inches long, often closely prostrate. Len-?s 1-3 inches in length: iJieaffis 

 smooth, a little pUoso at the throat. Spikes 1-3 inches long, seldom more than 3 in 

 Bumber ; spikdets greenish-purple. 



Cultivated grounds and waste places. Xative of Europe. August - September. 



Obs. Xaturalized in cultivated fields and lots, but not so troublesome 

 as the preceding. A very slender, smooth species with erect spikes (P. 

 fi-liforme. L.) belongs to this section ; it is often abundant in sandy pas- 

 tures, but it is not very important in any respect 



SpiJcelets scattered in large capillary panicles, ownless : neutral Jloret oj 

 a single palea. 



3. P. capilla're, L- Sheaths very hirsute : panicle large, capillary, 

 loose, finally expanding : spikelets lanceolate, acuminate, on long scabroua 

 peduncles. 



