32 BULLETIN 1386, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
fertile spikelet usually broadly elliptic (greatest width in the middle), convex 
but the one-fourth or one-third at the apex somewhat flattened upwards, more 
acute than in S. P. No. 0241466, brownish red or reddish brown, folded back at 
a point above the callus ; second glume slightly less thickened than the first, 
but colored the same, the nerves not perceptible ; lemma not awned ; caryopsis 
extending as far as the apices of the glumes or somewhat beyond or short of 
them, light orange to reddish brown ; radicle only slightly prominent ; summit 
usually somewhat turned toward the ventral side of the caryopsis and style 
bases turned ventrally ; sterile spikelets straw color to dark brownish red. 
CONTRACTED GROUP 
Varieties in the contracted group differ from those in the effuse 
group in having the panicle branches shorter, with less tendency to 
spread, and at least some of the branches of each panicle being rigid 
or semirigid. Panicles are variously formed, partly on account of 
variations in length of axis and partly because of differences in ar- 
rangement of branches and their degree of rigidity. 
Collier (Sugar Plant Xo. 01960).— Panicle smaller than in S. P. No. 01826; 
axis abbreviated to one whorl of a few rays or of various greater lengths, 
and sometimes extending throughout the entire panicle, somewhat less deeply 
furrowed; primary rays tortuous or torsive at the base; glumes of 
fertile spikelet somewhat less thickened, the margins usually infolded at the 
apices, open 20° to 60° ; first glume ovate-elliptic or more rarely elliptic, often 
flattened dorsally, bent back at the base in the opening of the spikelet, light 
yellow, dull brown, grayish, or nearly black, often somewhat mottled or 
spotted, the nerves visible farther down than in the preceding variety; cary- 
opsis usually not extending quite so far as the apices of the glumes, elliptic- 
obovate, or more rarely elliptic, yellowish or reddish brown; scutellum 
curved somewhat toward the ventral side at the base ; style bases often some- 
what thickened, usually on the ventral half of the grain ; sterile spikelets 
more persistent than in the preceding variety, frequently longer than the 
second glume of the fertile spikelet and reaching beyond its apes by as much 
as one-half its length, often having a lemma and lodicules, but commonly 
without stamens. 
Planter (Sugar Plant No. 01816), originally known as Planter's Friend. — 
Panicle medium size, ovate, obovate, or occasionally cylindric; axis often 
abbreviated, but usually not to less than about one-fourth the length of the 
panicle, the pubescence of the axis tine and more uniform than in S. P. No. 
01960 ; rays often flexuous at the base but not torsive : glumes of fertile spikelet 
open somewhat wider tjian in S. P. No. 01960, the margins often infolded at the 
apices, somewhat less thickened, the nerves often extending nearly or quite 
to the base, loosely holding the caryopsis. light yellow, partly brown, or nearly 
black, often darkest at the base, abundantly pilose, the hairs more persistent 
than in preceding varieties except in glumes much hardened, the hairs of the 
callus being somewhat coarser, the first glume ovate-elliptic or elliptic-ovate ; 
caryopsis somewhat larger than in preceding varieties, reaching to about the 
apices of the glumes, elliptic-obovate or obovate, the summit turned ventrally, 
yellowish or occasionally in part light reddish brown : scutellum about as in 
S. P. No. 011(60 or somewhat Straighter longitudinally: radicle and style bases 
about as in S. P. No. 01960, except the latter not thickened ; sterile spikelets 
quite persistent, the pedicels sometimes not rupturing during threshing, light 
yellow or in part reddish brown. 
Straightneek (Sugar Plant No. 020886 ). ; — Regarding the form of panicle, this 
variety is transitional between the spreading and the contracted types. Under 
favorable conditions for growth the rays are long, and many of them are bowed 
outward, especially near the extremities ; panicle usually conical or subcorneal 
in form ; axis extending to or nearly to the summit, often one or more nodes 
at the base without rays; branches often ciliate on the angles; glumes of fertile 
spikelet considerably thickened and open about as in S. P. No. 01S26 ; first 
glume elliptic, acute, or nearly so. reddish brown (Ridgway, Van Dyke brown), 
