HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 159 
the margins, or sparsely ciliate; panicles long-exserted, but sometimes equaled by 
the long upper blades, 8 to 12 cm. long, nearly as wide, lax, few-flowered, the 
branches flexuous, spreading, the lower often deflexed; spikelets 2.2 to 2.3 mm. long, 
1.2 mm. wide, oblong-obovate, obtuse, first glume one-third to two-fifths as long as 
the spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma equal and covering the fruit at maturity, 
papillose-pilose; fruit 1.8 mm. long, 1.2 mm.wide, obovate-elliptic, minutely umbonate. 
Autumnal form branching at the base, forming soft, spreading tufts, the sheaths 
overlapping and the blades but little or not at all reduced, much exceeding the sec- 
ondary panicles; spikelets more turgid and obtuse than the primary ones. 
A specimen collected by Lester F. and Rosamond Ward at Palatka, Fla., in 1891, 
and another from Dr. Chapman, collected in Florida, without locality or date, have 
pilose blades like those of P. xalapense; 
the spikelets are 2.2 to 2.3 mm. long, 
and the fruit is covered by the sata 
second glume and sterile lemma. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Rich or damp woods, Georgia to 
Florida and Alabama. 
Geroraia: Stone Mountain, Lggert 
42; Ocmulgee River Swamp, 
below Macon, Small in 1895. 
Froripa: Monticello, Combs 327; Fig. 145.—Distribution of P. laxiflorum. 
Lake City, Nash 2156, Hitch- 
cock 1009; Gainesville, Chase 4217, Combs 743; Mabel, our tiss 6635 in part; 4 
Grasmere, Combs 1064; Spruce Grea Curtiss in 1885; Manatee, Tracy 7383; 
Palmetto, Tracy 6707; Eustis, Nash 239, 2034; Orange Bend, Chase 4101; 
Dunnellon, Combs 909, Titusville, Chase 4023; Ormond, Hitchcock 111. 
ALABAMA: Springhill, Mohr in 1895. . 
/ 87. Panicum xalapense H. B. K. 
Panicum «xalapense H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 103. 1816. ‘“‘Crescit in regno 
Mexicano prope Xalapa et montem Macultepec.’’ The type, in the Bonpland Herba- 
rium, is labeled, ‘‘In regno Mexicano prope xalapa, regione temperata.”’ 
Panicum pumilum Bosc; Nees, Agrost. Bras. 228. 1829, not Lam. 1798. ‘‘(Herb. 
Willd.) Habitat in America boreali:’?. This is mentioned as a synonym under P. laxi- 
florum Lam. The specimen referred to, in the Willdenow Herbarium, is the vernal 
form. 
Panicum rariflorum Rupr. Bull. Acad. Roy. Belg. 97: 240- 1842, not Lam. 1798. 
““(Coll. H. Gal[eotti] No. 5733), Nous avons trouvé cette nouvelle espéce * * * 
pres de Xalapa.”’ Thisisanomen nudum. The type, in the Brussels Herbarium, is: 
a poor specimen, but undoubtedly belongs to this species. 
Panicum ruprechti Fourn. Mex. Pl. 2: 21. 1886, not Fenzl, 1854. This name is 
based on the type of P. rariflorum Rupr., ‘‘(Gat[Eorti1] n.5733).’’ It was earlier listed 
without description by Hemsley,® based on ‘‘Panicum rariflorum Rupr. * * * 
non Lam.,’’ that is, a nomen nudum based on a nomen nudum. 
Panicum caricifolium Scribn.; Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15:¢ 57. 1898. 
This is given as a synonym of P. laziflorwm Lam. ‘‘As distributed by Kearney 
a Curtiss included P. xalapense also under this number. U.S. National Herbarium 
no. 388470 is a sheet of Curtiss 6635, with a tuft of each species. 
6 Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 495. 1885. 
¢ The title page, vol. 15, pt. 1 (pp. 1-75) is incorrectly numbered 4 (IV). 
