402 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLAXTS, 



closing the free and grooveless grain. Stamens 3. Stigjnas plumose, 

 usually purple. The species here enumerated are all annual. 



^SpiJcelets crowded 2-3 together in simple one-sided digitate-fascicled spikes : 

 neutraJ floret 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 Purple) Panicum. Crab Grass. Finger Grass. 



Culm decumbent, 1-2 feet long, somewhat branching from the sheaths, genicalate, 

 glabrous, radicating at the lower nodes. Leaves 1 or 2 - 6 or 8 inches long, softly pilose ; 

 sheatlis strigosely hairy, sometimes smooth ; ligule short, truncate, or ovate and acute, 

 white or often tinged with purple. Spikes 2 or 3 - 6 inches in length, often in 2 fascicles or 

 verticils a little distant from each other, becoming purple ; rachis flat, flexuose, scabrous 

 on the margin. Spikelets in pairs, appressed, in 2 rows on the outer or under side of the 

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



Gardens and cultivated grounds : throughout the United States. JPZ. 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. gla'hrum, Gaudin. Spikes 2-6, widely diverging : upper glume 

 equalling the floret ; the lower almost wanting. 



Smooth Panicum. Smooth Crab Grass. 



Ct(77)i 6-12 inches long, often closely prostrate. Leaves 1-3 inches in length; sTceaihs 

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

 number ; spikdets greenish-purple. 



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



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

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

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

 tures, but it is not very important in any respect. 



Spikelets scattered in large capillary panicles, ownless : neutral floret of 

 a single palea. 



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

 loose, finally expanding ; spikelets lanceolate, acuminate, on long scabrous 

 peduncles. 



