HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—-NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 167 
N. C., in June 1899.’’ The type, in Ashe’s herbarium, consists of two single vernal 
plants, with slender, villous culms, sheaths less villous, blades nearly glabrous on one 
plant, sparsely long-pilose on the other, the panicles overmature. 
Panicum pungens Muhl.; Scribn. & Merr. U.S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Cire. 27: 2. 
1900, not Poir. 1816. This is mentioned as a herbarium name of P. setacewm Muhl., of 
which it is a typonym. 
This is the species described in Britton’s Manual@ and in Small’s Flora ® under the 
name Panicum neuranthum Griseb. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Vernal culms numerous in a tuft, ascending from a spreading base, appressed- 
pubescent below, glabrate above, 20 to 50 cm. or, in shaded situations, 60 cm. or more 
high, the nodes more or less pubescent but not bearded; lower sheaths villous, the 
upper glabrous except the ciliate margin; blades stiff, spreading or ascending, nar- 
rowed to an involute point, glabrous or the lower sparsely pilose, somewhat papillose- 
hispid on the margin at base, the middle culm blades 4 to 6 cm. long, rarely longer, 
2 to 5mm. wide, the uppermost shorter, usually only 1 to 2 cm. long and 1 to 2 mm. 
wide; panicles open, 3 to 7 cm. long, the flexuous 
branches spreading at maturity; spikelets 1.9 to 2 
mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, obovate, blunt, basal 
attenuation short; first glume about one-fourth 
the length of the spikelet, obtuse or pointed; 
second glume and sterile lemma equal, papillose- 
pubescent; fruit 1.6 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, oval- 
elliptic, glabrous at the apex. 
Autumnal form consisting of numerous bushy- 
branched culms 10 to 30 cm. long, spreading and 
forming dense cushions, the short blades involute, sharp-pointed and usually arcuate, 
mostly 1 to 3 cm. long; spikelets more turgid than in the vernal form. 
This species is abundant in the coast region and can be distinguished from all the 
other species of this group within its range by the small spikelets, and the awl-like 
blades of the autumnal state. 
Chase’s no. 30974 is referred here though it is unusually glabrous. 
Fic. 156.—P. aciculare. From typespeci- 
men in Florence Herbarium. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Sandy pine woods of the Coastal Plain from New J ersey to northern Florida and 
eastern Texas. 
New Jersty: Cape May, Stone in 1909. 
Virernia: Vicinity of Cape Henry, Chase 2357, 2936, 3682, 5413, 5414, Hitchcock 
345, 347, Kearney 1375, 1566, 2038, Mackenzie 1664, Willams 3099. 
NortH Carouina: Lake Mattamuskeet, Chase 3205; Raleigh, Chase 3084; Wil- 
mington, Ashe in 1899, Chase 3123, 3130, 3157, 4578, 4586, Hitchcock 344, 1447, 
1473, Kearney 247, 284 in part; Roanoke Island, Ashe in Curtiss Dist. 6451, 
Chase 3215, 3216, 3217; Ocracoke Island, Kearney 2272; Edenton, Kearney 
1871; Wilsons Mills, Chase 3094, 30974, 31038, 3105; Jacksonville, Chase 3167; 
Wards Mill, Chase 3185. 
SoutH Caro.ina: Orangebure, Hitchcock 17, 346, 1375, 1404; Aiken, Ravenel in 
1882; Fripps Island, Cuthbert 1166; Isle of Palms, Chase 4525. 
Groraia: Augusta, Kearney 215; Thomson, Bartlett 1444, 1455; Albany, Tracy 
3640; Thomasville, Tracy 3638, 3641; Jessup, Biltmore Herb. 11866. 
a@ Man. 84. 1901. 6 Fl. Southeast. U. S. 95. 1908. 
