FLORAL STRUCTURE OF SOME GRAM I NEAL 
HERMAN F. LUEDERS. 
WITH PLATE IV. 
Several years ago, in the study of the native vegetation of 
Wisconsin, I was able to note in a number of species interest¬ 
ing variations from the admitted specific characters, most of 
them, however, proving to be only local, or temporary, and 
therefore not deserving of further notice; but in a few in¬ 
stances they seemed to represent more constant structural modi¬ 
fications from the recognized type, so as to merit a notice from 
workers in the domain of systematic botany. 
Having been unable to give this subject as complete an ex¬ 
amination as it seems to merit, I take this opportunity merely 
to present my observations and suggest the consideration of the 
subject by others more able to conduct a thorough investiga¬ 
tion. 
The specific characters quoted below are those given in the 
sixth edition of the Manual of Botany of Northern United 
States, embodying, as it does, the conservative authoritative 
views on classification. 
Panicum proliferum Lam. — “Sterile flower none; spikelets 
pale green, rarely purplish; lower glume broad, the length 
of the upper, which is little longer than the following one. ” 
All specimens of P. proliferum that I have been able to examine 
possessed a sterile flower which was represented by a large glume 
and generally a delicate palet so as to make the description of 
the spikelet run as follows: Spikelet about 1 line long; lower 
empty glume the length of upper, broad, 1-3-nerved; upper 
empty glume 7-9-nerved, strongly convex, bluntish: sterile 
flower present, its flowering glume 5-nerved, slightly shorter 
than second empty glume, which it resembles in shape and text- 
