Blood Rosette Grass

Panicum consanguineum Kunth, Riv. Gram. 36. 1829
Panicum villosum EH. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 124. 1816. Not P. villosum Lam. 1791. Panicum commutatum consanguineum Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 141. 1896. Panicum georgianum Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 36. 1898. Panicum cahoonianum Ashe, Jour. EHsha Mitchell Soc. 15: 113. 1899.
Vernal phase with culms ascending or spreading, often geniculate at base, 20-55 cm. high, rather stout, densely feltyvillous below, less so above, the nodes bearded; leaf-sheaths villous, the upper often sparsely so; blades erect or ascending, 7-1 1 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide (the lowermost shorter and broader), tapering slightly toward the base, more or less involute-pointed, villous on both surfaces or nearly glabrous above, the longitudinal wrinkling conspicuous in the lower blades; panicles 4-8 cm. long, one half to two thirds as wide, the lower branches usually narrowly ascending; spikelets 2.6-2.8 mm. long, 1.6-1.8 mm. wide, obovate, blunt, turgid; first glume one third the length of the spikelet or less ; second glume and sterile lemma equal, scarcely covering the fruit at maturity, densely papillosevillous, the bullate papillae prominent; fruit 2 mm. long, 1.5-1.7 mm. wide, minutely puberulent at the apex.
Autumnal phase spreading or decumbent, the numerous branches somewhat flabellately
fascicled, the blades mostly 3-4 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, flat, thin, and papery.
Typ^ locality: South Carolina.
Distribution: Virginia to Florida and west to eastern Texas.

Panicum addisonii Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 83. 1898
Panicum Owenae Bickn. Bull. Torrey Club 35: 185. 1908.
Vernal phase similar to that of P. Commonsianum and often closely resembling that species; culms more slender, rarely as much as 40 cm. high, appressed or ascending-pilose at least below, puberulent above; leaf-sheaths sparsely ascending-pilose; blades stiffly ascending, 4-7 cm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, involute-pointed, glabrous on the upper surface, sometimes with a few long hairs near the margin, pubescent or glabrous beneath; panicles long-exserted, 2-6 cm. long, two thirds to three fourths as wide, the stiff branches ascending, the panicle thus appearing more densely flowered; spikelets 2-2.1 mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, obovate, blunt, papillose-pubescent, or the papillae obscure; first glume one third to half as long as the spikelet, usually pointed; second glume and sterile lemma barely equaling the fruit at maturity; fruit 1.7 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, elliptic, subobtuse.
Autumnal phase more or less spreading, rather freely branching from all the nodes, the branches appressed or narrowly ascending, the later branchlets somewhat fascicled, the stiff
blades not greatly reduced, overtopping the numerous reduced panicles.
Type locality: Wildwood, New Jersey. Distribution: Massachusetts to South Carolina.

Panicum commonsianum Ashe, Jour. EHsha Mitchell Soc. 15:
55. 1898.
Vernal plants grayish-olive, drying brownish; culms usually in dense tufts 20-50 cm. high, stiffly ascending or spreading, papillose-strigose to appressed-pilose, the hairs at the nodes more spreading; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, strigose to appressed-pilose like the culms but less densely so; ligule 1 mm. long or less; blades firm, stiffly ascending, 5-8 (rarely 9) cm. long, 4-7 mm. wide, broadest near the rounded base, the serrulate, cartilaginous margin involute toward the acuminate apex, glabrous on the upper surface or with a few long hairs toward the base or margin, strigose on the lower surface or glabrous; panicles long-exserted, 4-8 cm. long, about as wide, loosely flowered, the axis and branches strigose to nearly glabrous, the branches stiffly spreading, spikelet-bearing toward the ends; spikelets 2.2-2.4 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, subacute, pubescent; first glume about half as long as the spikelet, sometimes longer, usually pointed, 3«nerved; second glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma at maturity; fruit 2 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, elliptic, subacute.
Autumnal culms branching from the middle and upper nodes, after the maturity of the primary panicles becoming spreading or prostrate, the larger clumps forming mats in the sand, the reduced secondary subinvolute blades rather crowded, stiffly ascending, overtopping the panicles; winter blades lanceolate, commonly more hairy than those of the culm.
Type locality: Cape May, New Jersey.
Distribution : Connecticut to northern Florida.

Panicum ovale Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 123. 1816
Panicum ciliiferum Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 195. 1897. Panicum erythrocarpon Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc 16: 90. 1900.
Vernal plants light olive-green; culms densely tufted, 20-50 cm. high, erect or ascending, rather stout, long-pilose below with ascending or appressed hairs, often nearly glabrous above, usually leafy at the base, the nodes densely bearded with short spreading hairs; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes or the lower overlapping, ascending-pilose, the upper less densely so, rarely nearly glabrous; ligule composed of a ring of hairs about 1 mm. long with a second sparse ring 2-3 mm. long above it; blades firm, ascending, 6-10 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide (the uppermost much smaller), sharply acuminate, rounded at base, the upper surface usually nearly glabrous except for long hairs on or near the margin and base thus giving the blades the appearance of being strongly ciliate, these hairs occasionally wanting except at the base, the lower surface appressed-pubescent; panicles usually short-exserted, 5-9 cm. long, about as wide when fully expanded, the lower branches finally spreading, rarely drooping; spikelets 2.7-2.9 mm. long, 1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, pilose, sometimes rather sparsely so; first glume one third to nearly half the length of the spikelet, usually pointed; second glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma at maturity; fruit 2.2 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, obtuse. Autumnal phase spreading-decumbent, the stiff culms rather loosely branching from the middle and upper nodes, the ultimate branchlets crowded at the ends of the primary branches, the reduced blades erect; winter leaves very firm, conspicuously ciliate; short culms with tufted branches sometimes formed during the winter, the green bushy crown persistent at the base of the tall vernal culms.
Type locality: St. Marys, Georgia.
Distribution: North Carolina to Florida and eastern Texas.