HITCHCOCK AND CHASE—-NORTH AMERICAN PANICUM. 295 
Panicum laxiflorum pubescens Chapm. Fl. South. U.S. ed. 3. 586. 1897, not Vasey 
1892. Based on Panicum pubescens Lam., though the description applies to P. strigo- 
sum Muhl., the species referred by Chapman to this variety. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Vernal plants grayish olive green, velvety-pubescent throughout except as noted; 
culms 80 to 130 cm. high, stout, erect or ascending, usually geniculate at base, the 
nodes villous with reflexed hairs, a glabrous, viscid ring below; sheaths about half as 
long as the long internodes, the velvety pubescence wanting on the back toward the 
summit, the surface here viscid when fresh; ligules 1 mm. long; blades rather thick, 
ascending or spreading, often reflexed late in the season, 12 to 20 cm. long, 10 to 18 mm. 
wide, long-acuminate, slightly narrowed to the rounded base, the uppermost leaf often 
much reduced; panicles finally long-exserted, 8 to 15 cm. long, nearly as wide, many- 
flowered, the axis, branches, and pedicels with viscid blotches, the branches ascend- 
ing or spreading, spikelet-bearing to the base; spikelets 2.4 to 2.6 mm. long, 1.4 to 1.5 
mm. wide, obovate, turgid at maturity, abruptly pointed, papillose-pubescent with 
spreading hairs; first glume one-fifth to 
one-fourth the length of the spikelet, 
acute to truncate; second glume and 
sterile lemma strongly nerved, the 
glume obtuse, shorter than the fruit at 
maturity, the lemma abruptly pointed 
and equaling it; fruit 2 mm. long, 1.4 
mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, apiculate. 
Autumnal form leaning or spreading, 
Fic. 333.—P. scoparium. From type specimen of branching from the middle nodes after 
P. viscidum Ell. the maturity of the primary panicle, 
the branches usually longer than the 
primary internodes, repeatedly branching, often more or less scorpioid, the ultimate 
branchlets in flabellate fascicles, the sheaths often swollen toward the summit, con- 
tracted at the throat, the blades much reduced, overtopping the small, partially 
included panicles. 
A well-marked and constant species, easily recognized by its velvety pubescence, 
the glabrous, viscid ring below the nodes, and the viscid upper portion of the sheath. 
The viscidity disappears in drying, but the glandular surface is evident. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Wet or damp soil, Massachusetts to Florida, west to Oklahoma and Texas; also in 
Cuba. 
MassAcHUSETTs: Cape Cod, Cheney in 1903 (N. E. Bot. Club Herb.). 
New Jersey: Avon, Mackenzie 1854; Tuckerton, Chase 3600; Wildwood, Chase 
3486. 
PENNSYLVANIA: Tinicum, Smith 159; without locality, McMinn. 
DetawareE: Millsboro, Commons 28; Ellendale, Commons 32. 
Mary.anp: Eastern Shore, Canby; Anne Arundel County, J. D. Smith in 1879; 
Chesapeake Junction, Hitchcock 1637. 
District or CotumsBia: Kearney in 1897, Merrill 233, Sheldon in 1881, Steele in 
1896 and 1897, Topping in 1895, Vasey in 1881, Ward in 1878 and 1879. 
Virernis: In the vicinity of Cape Henry, Chase 5438, Coville 17, Hitchcock 593, 
Kearney 308, 1477, Mackenzie 1688, Noyes 88, 89; Dismal Swamp, McCarthy 
in 1883. 
Norra Carouna: Wilmington, Biltmore Herb. 4290; Hickory, Small & Heller in 
1891; Heiligs Mill, Small & Heller 204; West Raleigh, Coit 1304. 
