P A N I C U M. 
334 
they are alternate. Native of North America, where it 
was found by Kalin. Alfo of Japan and the Cape of 
Good Hope, according to Thunberg; of the Society and 
Eafter Itlands. Introduced in 1781 by Monf. Thouin. 
It is an annual grafs; flowering from July to September. 
33. Panicum Aigyptiacum, or Egyptian panic-grafs : 
fpikes fubdigitate, approximating, eredt, filiform; rachis 
flexuofe; teeth two-flowered; flowers pedicelled; inner 
valve three-nerved; culm and leaves hairy. Refembles 
the preceding very much, but differs in having the culm 
and leaves hairy, the fpikes a little thicker, but efpecialiy 
in having the inner valve ovate, twice as large, and three- 
nerved : the acceffory valve is extremely minute. It is 
an annual grafs as well as the former. Culms from one 
to two feet high, covered with (heaths that have long hairs 
clofely fet. Its native place is not afcertained, notwith- 
ilanding its trivial name. 
34. Panicum ciliare, or ciliated panic-grafs: fpikes 
fubdigitate, approximating, erecl, filiform ; rachis flexuofe; 
teeth two-flowered; flowers pedicelled; outer valve ci- 
liate; culms and leaves hairy. Height a foot and a half, 
branched at the bafe. Outer glume of the calyx fmaller, 
lanceolate ; inner larger, the length of the corolla, hairy 
at both edges : the acceffory valve is a fcalelet fcarcely 
obfervable, and often wanting. Corolla quite fmooth. 
Flowers lanceolate, acute, one of them feflile. It varies 
with the leaves more or lefs hairy; and with the (heaths 
and joints hairy, and naked. This refembles P. fiiiforme 
fo much, that they may eafily be confounded: and per¬ 
haps, fanguinale, fiiiforme, Aigyptiacum, and ciliare, are 
nothing more than varieties. This fpecies was brought 
from Java and China by Wennerberg. 
35. Panicum lineare, or linear-fpiked panic-grafs: 
fpikes digitate, in fours or thereabouts, linear; florets 
foiitary, directed one way, awnlefs. Native of both 
Indies. Retzius fays he had it from Koenig, with the 
culms branching very much, and leafy to the veryfpikes, 
with tender leaves ; and from Thunberg, gathered at the 
Cape of Good Hope, with the culms creeping, lefs leafy 
at top, the leaves far more rigid, and the (heaths equitant 
in two rows. He doubts whether they are the fame or 
different. 
36. Panicum cimicinum, or bug panic-grafs : panicle 
timbelled.; racemes in fours; one of the calycine glumes 
ciliate ; root annual. Culms a foot high, upright or af- 
cending, even. Leaves lanceolate, even, ciliate. Flowers 
alternate : the outer flower falls entire with the feed, and 
on account of the hairs in fome meafure refembles a bug. 
Linnaeus, not obferving the glume which is received by 
the margin of that which is awned, but taking the fmaller 
glume of the calyx for a glume of the corolla, made this 
grafs a Milium. Koenig, who found it in the Eafl In¬ 
dies, firfi difcovered it to be a Panicum. 
37. Panicum diflachyon, or diftich-fpiked panic-grafs : 
fpikes in pairs, diredlecl one way. Culm fomewhat branch¬ 
ed, a foot high, narrower. Leaves fhort, rugged at the 
edge. Spikes two together, (according to Retzius com¬ 
monly three, and fometimes four,) terminating, nearly 
equal. Flowers feffile-in a double longitudinal row along 
the rachis, awnlefs, ovate, even ; antherae yellow ; piftils 
feathered, purple. It has the appearance of Pafpalum 
diftichum ; but the leaves are lanceolate and flat, not 
briftle-fliaped and involuted ; flowers fharpifh, but not 
mucronate ; the calyx has a fhort acceffory valve, whereas 
there is none in Pafpalum. Native of the Eafl Indies, 
where it was found by Koenig. 
38. Panicum fquarrofum, or fcaly panic-grafs : fpikes 
in pairs, horizontal; involucres of the flowers fquarrofe ; 
culms decumbent. Culms proftrate, rooting, branched, 
leafy. Leaves fhort, cluftered, tomentofe, as are alfo the 
(heaths. Rachis membranaceous, dilated, flexuofe, joint¬ 
ed ; at each joint a bundle of two or three flowers, fenced 
with involucres or difform cartilaginous bradles: one 
valve of the calyx very large, ovate, acuminate, flexuofe, 
the other fmaller, lanceolate; both hard and cartilaginous 
like the bradfes: the acceffory valve fmall, acute, under 
the larger. A bundle of barren flowers terminates the 
fpike. The appearance and ftrudlure are fo Angular, that 
it feems to conftitute a diftindt genus. It has fomewhat 
the appearance of a Cenchrtts; and Linnaeus placed it in 
that genus. Willdenow remarks, that the fpikes are 
ufually in pairs, but that there is only one in Linnaeus’s 
own fpecimen. Native of the Eafl Indies. Annual. 
Frequent in the fands of Malabar during the rainy 
feafon. 
39. Panicum hifpidulum, or hifpid panic-grafs : fpikes 
binate and ternate, erect; calyxes hifpid, two-awned. 
This approaches neared to P. flagninum, but is very dif¬ 
ferent. The culms and leaves are the fame as in that. 
Spikes compound, half a foot long, in cluders ; fpikelets 
fcarcely an inch in length, almofi prefled to the rachis, 
binate, ternate, or foiitary. Outer valve of the calyx 
terminating in a naked awn four times as long as the 
flower; inner fomewhat longer, terminated by a dagger- 
point, or fhort awn ; both hifpid, efpecialiy at the edge : 
the acceffory valve fhort, from a wide bafe furrounding the 
pedicel, ending in a point, naked. Corolla as in ltagni- 
num, but acuminate and hermaphrodite: befides, between 
the corolla and that valve of the calyx which has the 
longer awn, there is a hyaline petal, as in P. flagninum ; 
but in this there is no rudiment of flamens or piitil. Na¬ 
tive of the Eafl Indies ; fent by Koenig. 
40. Panicum compofitum, or compound-fpiked panic- 
grals : fpike compound; fpikelets linear, diredled one 
way; florets in pairs, remote; calyxes awned. Culm 
creeping, leafy, rifing, filiform, tender, Ample. Leaves - 
lanceolate, wider than in the reft, (hotter. Spikelets four 
or five, alternate, remote, prefled to the rachis, growing on 
one fide. Valves of the calyx lanceolate, (lightly keeled, 
mucronate, with a flraight awn, double the length of the 
florets, except the inmofl, which has the awn fhorter. 
Native of Ceylon ; and the Society-ifles in the Southern 
Ocean, according to Forfler. 
41. Panicum elatius, or tall panic-grafs: fpike com¬ 
pound, fpikelets oblong fcattered prefled clofe, florets 
crowded, calyxes mucronate-awned. This refembles the 
preceding very much. Culm upright, fliff, fix feet high. 
Leaves long. It is an annual grafs, native of Malabar. 
II. Flowers panicled. 
42. Panicum dichotomum, or dichotomous panic- 
grafs : panicles Ample, culm branched dichotomous. In 
llature this grafs emulates a fmall tree, fimple below, and 
fafcicled above. Native of Virginia. 
43. Panicum ramofum, or branched panic-grafs: pani¬ 
cle with fimple branches, flowers in threes or there¬ 
abouts, lower fubfeflile, culm branched. Culms a foot 
high, eredl, branched, even 5 with the internodes thick- 
ilh at the bafe, and knee-jointed. Native of the Indies. 
44. Panicum deullum, or burnt panic-grafs : panicle 
fpreading, flowers foiitary, glumes fmooth, purple at the 
tip. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. Found there by 
Thunberg. 
45. Panicum coloratum, or coloured panic-grafs : pani¬ 
cle fpreading, flamens and piftils coloured, culm branched, 
(quite fimple, Jacquin.) Culms two feet high, very much 
branched, even, with the (heaths of the leaves hairy, and 
at length rugged. Panicle fpreading very wide, loofifli, 
with filiform branches. Glumes one-flowered, awnlefs, 
ovate, green and purple, eight-grooved ; antherae faft'ron- 
coloured,and piftils,deep violet, by which it is readily dif- 
tinguifhed from P. capillare and others. It is an annual 
grals, found by Forfkahl near Cairo. 
Jacquin deicribes the root as perennial, compofed of 
thick long whitiTh fibres. Culms annual, feveral, aggre¬ 
gate, thickening at the bafe into a fort of bulb, and there 
connected and rooting; eredl, round, fmooth; not 
branched, as Linnaeus fays they are, but quite fimple with¬ 
out the lead branchlet, only connate immediately above 
the root. Leaves enfiform-linear, about ten inches in 
length, 
