HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—-NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 95 
the plant described by Elliott as P. amarum that we are forced to apply his name to 
the species named P. amaroides. In the herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy is 
a specimen of this species bearing two tickets reading respectively ‘‘ Panicum 
amarum” and ‘Elliott S. C.,’’ the former being in the handwriting found in the 
Elliott Herbarium. While this may not be the type, it would seem to be an authentic 
specimen. A second specimen of this species in the same herbarium bears a ticket 
reading ‘‘Georg. Baldw.”’ 
Panicum amarum minor[us| Vasey & Scribn. U.S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. Bull. 8: 38. 
1889. ‘‘Fortress Monroe, Va., and northward, near the coast.’’ The type specimen, 
in the National Herbarium, was collected by Dr. Vasey at Fort Monroe, Va., in 1879. 
Panicum amaroides Scribn. & Merr. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Circ. 29: 5. /. 1. 
1901. Based on P. amarum minus Vasey & Scribn. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Plants glaucous and glabrous throughout; culms solitary from the nodes of exten- 
sively creeping, horizontal rootstocks, simple or occasionally branching from the 
lower nodes, 30 cm. to 1 meter high; sheaths overlapping but commonly narrow and 
partially exposing the short, very glaucous internodes; ligules dense and silky, about 
3mm. long; blades ascending or spreading, thick, 10 to 30 cm. long, 5 to 12 mm. wide, 
broadest at the base, flat below, involute toward the tip, margins smooth; panicles 
short-exserted or included at base, one-fourth to one-third the height of the plant, 
or sometimes more, not over 3 cm. wide, mostly few-flowered, the distant, appressed 
branches bearing scattered, short, appressed branchlets with approximate, short- 
pediceled spikelets; spikelets 5 to 6.5 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide and as much as 3 
mm. thick, narrowly ovate, acuminate, strongly nerved; first glume clasping, two- 
thirds to three-fourths the length of the spikelet, acuminate, 7 to 9-nerved, the 
midnerve usually scabrous toward the apex; second glume slightly longer than the 
sterile lemma, both much exceeding the fruit, 9-nerved, the midnerves scabrous 
toward the apex; fruit 3.5 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. wide, narrowly ovate. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Sandy seashores and coast dunes, Connecticut to Georgia; also on islands off the 
coast of Mississippi. An important sand binder. 
Connecticut: New Haven, Winton in 1887. 
New York: Long Island, Miller, Young in 1872; Staten Island, Tyler in 1895. 
New Jersey: Cape May, Burk in 
1881 (Hitchcock Herb.). 
DELAWARE: Cedar Neck, Com- 
mons “28 in 1875; Lewes, 
Mitchcock 227; without locality, 
Canby 
Maryann: Bay Ridge, Scribner 
in 1897. 
Vireinia: Fort Monroe, McCarthy 
in 1883, Vasey in 1879; Ports- 
mouth, Noyes 66 in 1895; As 
Ocean View, Vasey in 1890; Fig. 86.—Distribution of P. amarum. 
Virzinia Beach, Hitchcock 
169, Kearney 2064, Mackenzie 1736, Williams 3089. 
Nort Carona: Ocracoke Island, Kearney 2317; Brunswick County, McCarthy; 
Wilmington, Hitchcock 441; without locality, McCarthy in 1885. 
Sours Carona: Isle of Palms, Chase 4555. 
GroraiA: Tybee Island, Harper 742. 
Mississrer1: Horn Island, Tracy 2854 and in 1897, 
