HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—-NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 265 
Panicum glabrissimum Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 62. 1898. ‘‘The type 
_ material was collected by me June, 1898, at Manteo, Dare Co., N. ©.’’ The type 
could not be found in Ashe’s herbarium. In the Mohr Herbarium is a specimen 
labeled in Ashe’s writing ‘‘ Panicum glabrissimum Ashe” and bearing the cited data. 
This is a tuft of three vernal culms and agrees with the description, except that the 
spikelets are said to be glabrous, while these are pubescent. The specimen in the 
National Herbarium from the same station and sent by Ashe as part of the type 
collection is P. tenue, and fails in several particulars to agree with the description. 
While neither of these specimens is the type itself, the one which most nearly agrees 
with the description is taken to represent the type. 
Panicum shallotte Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 16: 84. 1900. Based on ‘‘P. 
glabrissimum Ashe, not P. glaberrimum Steud.”’ 
Panicum parvipaniculatum Ashe, Journ. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 16: 87. 1900. ‘‘Col- 
lected May 20, in Onslow county, N. C. Type material is preserved in my herba- 
rium.’’ No specimen so labeled could be found in Ashe’s herbarium, but a cover 
marked in Ashe’s hand ‘‘P. parvipaniculatum” was found which contained eight 
sheets of unmounted material, of which two sheets (one within the fold of the other) 
were accompanied by a label with the following data in Ashe’s writing: ‘‘ Panicum 
gray spikelets? Peaty-soiled thickets sandy flatwoods and ditch banks, 10-18 miles 
east of Jacksonville, Onslow county, N. C. May 20, 1899.”’ Since these were the only 
specimens with locality and date according with those published, the specimens on 
the sheet with the label were chosen as the type, one tuft being deposited in the 
National Herbarium. These specimens agree with the description except that the 
species is said to be ‘‘perfectly glabrous except the ligule” while the blades are 
puberulent beneath and some of them on the upper surface also; that the ligule is 
given as ‘‘about 2 mm. long,’’ while it is almost obsolete (0.1 to 0.2 mm. long); and 
that the spikelets are given as ‘‘barely 1 mm. long,’’ while they measure 1.3 to 1.4 
mm. long. This type differs from those of P. ensifolium and P. brittonw in having 
glabrous spikelets. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Vernal plants grayish olive green; culms cespitose, slender, erect or reclining, 
glabrous, 20 to 40 cm. high; sheaths glabrous, usually much shorter than the inter- 
nodes; blades distant, often reflexed, 1 to 3 cm. long, 1.5 to 3 mm. wide, glabrous 
on the upper surface or puberulent toward the base, puberulent beneath, at least 
toward the tip; panicles finally long-exserted, 1.5 to 4 cm. long, nearly as wide, the 
flexuous branches spreading or the lower reflexed; spikelets 1.3 to 1.5 mm. long, 
elliptic, subacute, glabrous or puberulent; first glume one- 
fourth as long as the spikelet or less, acute or obtuse; second 
glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 
1.2 mm. long, elliptic, subacute. 
Autumnal culms spreading or reclining, sparingly branch- 
ing from the middle nodes, the branches mostly remaining 
simple; winter blades glabrous, usually short, 1.5 to 3 cm. 
long, 2 to 4 ¢m. wide. 
In this species the pubescence of the spikelets seems to 
be very inconstant. The type of P. brittonii and Chase 3557 have pubescent spike- 
lets, while Chase 3535 and specimens collected by Clute in 1899 and by Bicknell in 
1900, also in New Jersey, have glabrous spikelets; of the North Carolina specimens 
Hitchcock 1425, Chase 30964, 3176, 3177, 3227, and 3234 have pubescent spikelets. 
Combs’s no. 74, Lake City, Florida, and Tracy 44, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, two 
very slender autumnal specimens, the first with puberulent, the latter with glabrous, 
spikelets, are doubtiully referred here. 
Fig. 291.—P. ensifolium. 
From type specimen. 
