PANICU M. 
tlire&ed one way, roundifh. Height two or three feet. 
Culm jointed, erect, round, leafy, fmooth. Leaves a foot 
long, rounded at the bafe, broad-lanceolate, acute, ftreak- 
ed longitudinally, rough at the edge : (heaths long, ftri- 
ated, fmooth, fubvillofe at the edge and neck. Spikes 
terminating, half a foot long, fubverticillate. Florets 
roundifh or, ovate, fmall, brown. Outer valve ot the 
calyx one third of the fize of the other: inner ovate, 
concave, marked with longitudinal lines, appearing netted 
when magnified, ferruginous-brown. Valves of the her¬ 
maphrodite corolla ovate, whitifh ; one fmaller, included. 
Male corolla empty : outer valve like the inner valve of 
the calyx ; inner fmaller, whitifh, ovate. Native of Ja¬ 
maica, in low graffy places. 
26. Panicum Carthaginenfe, orCarthagena panic-grafs: 
fpikes panicled 5 leaves fhorter; fpikelets dire died one 
way, roundifh. Roots long, filiform, ft iff, perennial. 
Culm a foot high, very much branched, jointed, proftrate, 
comprefl'ed a little, grooved, ft iff, fmooth. Branches 
from the (heaths of the leaves, in bundles. Leaves round¬ 
ed at the bafe, lanceolate, acuminate, two or three inches 
long, flat, entire, fometimes waved at the edge, ftriated a 
little, fmooth : (heaths longer than the leaves, wide, lon¬ 
gitudinally open, ftriated, pubefcent, very much con- 
tradfed at the edge and neck, fubvillofe. Spikes on every 
fide terminating the branches, commonly (liorter than the 
leaves, an inch long, frequently concealed in the (heaths. 
Native of Carthagena in South America in graffy places. 
27. Panicum conglomeratum, or conglomerate panic- 
grafs : fpike directed one way, fubovate ; florets blunt. 
It is thus defcribed by Linnaeus, in his Mantiffa, under 
the name of P. indicum : “ Culms filiform, proftrate, very 
much branched, rooting. Leaves lanceolate, even, with 
the (heaths (horter than half the internodes. Raceme 
terminating, peduncled, fubfpiked, fmall, (liorter than 
the leaf, often eight-flowered, without hairs. Flowers 
alternate, fometimes two in the fame tooth of the lower 
raceme, ovate. Piftils feathered, the fize of the whole 
flower.” Retzius defcribes it under the fame name, as a 
filiform grafs, half a foot in height. Culm afcending, 
naked above. Spikes fcarcely half an inch in length, 
without any involucrets. Inner valves of the calyx 
(lightly hiftpid, almoft equal, boat-ftiaped, acute : acceftory 
valve blunt, minute. He can fcarcely think it to be the 
P. conglomeratum, which feems to him to be the Aira 
indica of the Species Plantarum; for in P. indicum the 
fpike is not directed one way, nor are the florets blunt. 
Native of the Eaft Indies, by towns and in the ftreets : 
fent by Koenig. 
28. Panicum interruptum, or broken-fpiked panic- 
grafs: fpike fimple, interrupted; fpikeletsf two-flowered, 
pedicelled, naked. This grafs is three feet high, and 
fmooth. Knots of the culm black. Sheaths fmooth. 
Leaves long, linear, ftriated, fmooth. Spike a foot long, 
narrow. Flowers cluftered. Peduncles one - flowered. 
Calyx two-flow'ered, two of the valves equal, acute, 
nerved ; the acceftory one lefs, obovate, obtufe, mem¬ 
branaceous. It differs from all the fpecies in the in- 
florefcence. Natiye of the Eaft Indies, in flagrant 
waters. 
29. Panicum fanguinale, or (lender-fpiked cock’s-foot 
panic-grafs: fpikes digitate, knobbed at the inner bafe ; 
florets in pairs, awnlefs; (heaths of the leaves dotted. 
Root annual. Culms leafy, even, with three joints, at 
the two lower procumbent, the upper oblique; a foot 
high. Flowering-branches from {he joints. Leaves two 
inches long. Sheaths fomewhat compreffed, blood-red, 
even, dotted. Rachis linear, fuhflexuofe, flat, rugged, 
with a prominent nerve above, for the infertion of the 
florets; which, on the convex fide, are prefted to the 
rachis, two together, or often three in each tooth: calyx 
awnlefs, pubefcent: the third valve is flat, three-nerved, 
acute, fometimes violet-coloured ; ftigmas purple. Seed 
rufous, (hining. 
It is fufpedfed that our P. fanguinale is not the fame 
Vo l. XVIII. No. 1246. 
333 
with that of Linnteus. Mr. Curtis is induced to confider 
our plant as the fanguinale of Linnaeus, rather by the 
figures and defcriptious quoted by him, than by his fpe- 
cific diftinflion, which does not well accord with our 
plant; fo that there yet remains a, doubt whether our 
plant may not be the P. filiforme figured by Jacquin, 
Obf. 3. t. 70. It is obferved by Mifs Jennings of this 
grafs, that all the Items which lie near the ground take 
root; and by this means, though an annual and (hort- 
lived plant, it increafes and fpreads very wide. Heiiter, 
Haller, Scopoli, and Adanfon, arrange this and fome other 
fpecies of Panicum under a diftindt genus, which they 
call Digitaria, from the difpofition of the fpikes, like the 
fingers of the hand (pread out. But, thefe having a three¬ 
leaved calyx, it feems better to continue them, with Lin¬ 
naeus, Schreber, See. under the genus Panicum. This 
fpecies is very univerfal; being found not only in Eu¬ 
rope, but in Afia and America, and the Society Ides in 
the Southern Ocean : neverthelefs it is not common in 
England. It grows at Elden in Suftolk, Witchingham 
in Norfolk, near Martha’s Chapel by Guildford, Wandf- 
worth-field, arid in the gardener’s grounds near Batterfea: 
flowering from July to September. The name o f J(in¬ 
guinale is not taken from its colour, but from an idle 
trick which the boys in Germany have of pricking one 
another’s noftrils with the fpikelets of this grafs till they 
draw blood. 
30. Panicum dadfylon, or fingered panic-grafs : fpikes 
digitate, fpreading; villofe at the bafe on the infide; 
flowers ftolitary; runners creeping. Culm creeping at the 
bafe, and above that upright, nine inches or a foot in 
height, glaucous, fmooth, frequently branched from the 
lower joints. Leaves keeled, acuminate, ftifilfli, from one 
to four inches in length, one or two lines in breadth, hir- 
fute on both tides, fomewhat rugged, glaucous. Sheath 
fmooth with a yellow fpot on each fide at the infertion of 
the leaf. Joints purple, fmooth, fometimes eight or nine. 
Spikes linear, four, five, or fix, directed one way, three- 
fided, (lightly hairy at the bafe, proceeding in a bundle 
from the top of the culm, at firft purple, but by age ac¬ 
quiring the colour of chaff. Sometimes in the bundle of 
fpikes a (hort branch fprings forth, on the top of which is 
another bundle of fpikes, few in number. The fpikelets 
at firft are prefled clofe to the (cape; but in the time of 
flowering they recede in a vertical direction from it; and 
afterwards proximate to it again. 
There is fome little doubt whether ours be the exafil: 
plant charadlerifed by Linnaeus as the P. daftylon. Clu- 
fius’s figure has long awns to the florets: but perhaps in 
the milder climates of Spain and Italy the plant may be 
awned, though not fo with us. In the figures of Bauhin, 
Morifon, Monti, and Scheuchzer, there are no awns; and 
therefore they agree better with our plant. The hairs 
mentioned in the lpecific character, on the infide the bafe 
of the fpikes, are not fo evident in our fpecimens as to 
juftify fuch an application; for, though our plants have 
fome hairinefs there, they have it at lead as much on the 
outfide, and (till more in other parts. Native of Europe, 
the Levant, and the Cape of Good Hope. Firft found in 
England by Mr. Newton, between Penzance and Marazion 
in Cornwall; and lately again in the fame place by Mr. 
Stackhoufe. It flowers in July and Auguft, till late in 
the autumn. 
31. Panicum umbrofum, or (liady panic-grafs: fpikes 
about four, remote; florets in pairs, unequally pedicelled ; 
culm creeping, flaccid. Culms filiform, a foot high, af¬ 
cending, leafy, weak, putting out roots at the joints. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, (hort, naked. Native of the 
Eaft Indies, in (hady grafs-fpots : fent by Koenig. 
32. Panicum filiforme, or filiform-fpiked panic-grafs : 
fpikes fubdigitate, approximating, eredt, filiform ; rachis 
flexuofe ; teeth two-flowered, one feflile ; inner valve very 
fmall; culm and leaves fmooth ; leaves lanceolate. Culms 
aim,oft leaflefs, a foot high, filiform, at top naked, upright. 
Spikes (lender, at firft fo clofe as to appear one, although 
4 Q they 
