830 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
examined. The culms and blades are minutely pubescent, the latter 8 cm. long 
and 12mm. wide. The spikelets are glabrous and 3 mm. long, the first glume obtuse, 
3-nerved, nearly as long as the spikelet, the second glume 5-nerved, the sterile lemma 
2-nerved, the central nerve being suppressed. 
Panicum densum Muhl. Descr. Gram. 122. 1817. No locality is given. The type is 
not in the Muhlenberg Herbarium. The description suggests one of the Lanuginosa. 
Panicum dichotomum curvatum Torr. Fl. North. & Mid. U.S. 145. 1824. No locality 
is given. There is no specimen thus marked in the Torrey Herbarium. The refer- 
ence to tall culms and curved branches suggests P. yadkinense Ashe. 
Panicum dichotomum gracile Torr. Fl. North. & Mid. U.S. 145. 1824. ‘“‘Common 
in swamps, New-York.’’ The type is not in the Torrey Herbarium and the form can 
not be certainly identified, but the description, ‘‘culm tall, slender; leaves mem- 
branaceous. Common in swamps,”’ suggests the vernal form of P. lucidum Ashe. 
Panicum dichotomum spathaceum Wood, Bot. & Flor. 393. 187#. No locality nor 
specimen is mentioned and the form can not be identified. 
\—Panicum disciferum Fourn. Mex. Pl. 2: 19. 1886. ‘San Luis de Potosi (Virt[ET] 
___n._1292).”” We have been unable to-find the type of this. The name was mentioned 
earlier, without description, by Hemsley.¢ The description of the inflorescence as 
= I consisting of six appressed spikes suggest,that this may not be a true Panicum. 
Panicum discolor Spreng. Mant. FI. Hal. 31. 1807. The only specimen mentioned 
is ‘‘E Pensylvania.’’ We have not been able to locate the type and the species can not 
ns identified from the description, though it belongs to the subgenus Dichanthelium. 
Panicum elliottw Spreng.; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 2: 256. 1841, not Trin. 1829. 
This is given as a synonym of P. pubescens. As the latter name is given without an 
author, Sprengel’s name can be fixed upon no definite species and is hence a nomen 
nudum. No type has been seen. 
Panicum firmandum Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 418. 1854. ‘‘Carolina sptr.’’ This 
was received from M. A. Curtis under the name of P. microcarpon Muhl. We have not 
seen the type. The description applies well to P. sphaerocarpon except that the 
spikelets are said to be glabrous while in the latter species they are finely puberulent. 
Panicum flecuosum Raf.; Desv. Journ. de Bot. 4: 273. 1814, not Retz. 1791. The 
description is as follows: ‘‘feuilles lancéolées, élatées, ciliees 4 la base; panicule 
pubescente; pedoncules flexueux; glume ciliee. Dans le nouveau Jersey.” 
Panicum gracilescens Desv.; Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 4: 279. 1816. ‘‘Cette 
plante croit 4 la Caroline (V. s.in herb. Desv.).’’ The type could not be found in the 
Desvaux Herbarium and the species can not be identified. Desvaux gives a later 
description,’ which disagrees in some respects with that of Poiret. 
Panicum hirsutum Vahl; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 548. 1864, not Swartz, 1797. This 
is mentioned as a synonym under P..diffusum Swartz. We have not seen the type but 
the specific name and the statement by Grisebach that the sheaths of P. diffusum may 
be glabrous or pilose, suggest that P. hirsutum Vahl may be P. ghiesbreghtit Fourn. 
Panicum iowense Ashe, N. C. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 175: 115.1900. ‘‘Dry prairies, 
eastern Iowa to Kansas, June and July.’’ There is no specimen in Ashe’s herbarium 
bearing this name nor that can with any degree of certainty be connected with the 
description. There is a specimen of P. praecocius collected on dry prairies at Arm- 
strong, Iowa, July, 1890, by R. I. Cratty, which is marked in pencil by Ashe, ‘‘ Pani- 
cum prairie.’’ The description applies fairly well to this specimen except that the 
height is given as ‘‘1-2 cm.”’ [error for 1 to 2 dm.?], the panicle as ‘‘small, 1-2 cm. 
long,’’ and the length of the spikelets as ‘‘1.1-1.4 mm.”’ [the spikelets are 1.8 to 1.9 
mm. long]. The description is too meagre to distinguish this species from P. hua- 
chucae which is found in the range given, and to which the description of panicles and 
spikelets better applies. A specimen of P. praecocius, Carver 258, Jewell Junction, 
Iowa, in the Iowa Agricultural College Herbarium, is marked in Ashe’s writing 
“Panicum haemocarpon Ashe sp. nov. affine P. villosissimum Nash.’’ This adds 
to the evidence against taking the Cratty specimen as the type of P. towense. 
a Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 3: 488. 1885. 6 Opusc. 95. 1831. 
