Rough Rosette Grass

Panicum wrightianum Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 11 :
44. 1898.
Panicum strictum Bosc; R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 447. 1817. Not P. strictum R.'Br. 1810. Panicum minutulum Desv. Opusc. 87. 1831. Not P. minutulum Gaud. 1826. Panicum deminutivum Peck, Bull. N. Y. State Mus. 116: 27. 1907.
Vernal culms weak and slender, ascending from a decumbent base, or rarely at first erect, 15-40 cm., or rarely 60 cm., high, minutely puberulent; leaf-sheaths striate, shorter than the internodes, glabrous, except the summit and ciliate margin, or puberulent; ligule 2-3 mm. long; blades spreading, 2-4 cm. long, 3-5 mm., or rarely 6 mm. wide, glabrous or puberulent beneath and minutely pilose above; panicles oblong-ovate, 3-6 cm. long, one third to half as wide, the branches ascending, the minute spikelets long-pediceled; spikelets 0.95-1 mm. long, 0.5 mm. wide, ellipsoid, turgid, subacute, pubescent; first glume about one fourth as long as the spikelet; second glume shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 0.8 mm. long, 0.5 mm. wide, subacute.
Autumnal phase decumbent-spreading, the culms sending out from the lower and middle nodes numerous ascending branches, becoming somewhat bushy-branched, the flat or subinvolute blades and secondary panicles not much reduced.
Type locality: Cuba.
Distribution: Massachusetts to Florida, and west to eastern Texas; Cuba.

Panicum longiligulatum Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 26: 574
1899.
Vernal culms usually stout, 30-70 cm. high, erect, or ascending at base, glabrous; leafsheaths glabrous, usually much shorter than the internodes; ligule 2-3 mm. long; blades rather 257
thick and firm, 4-8 cm. long, 4^8 mm. wide, glabrous on the upper surface, puberulent beneath, gradually narrowed to the sharp point, the lower ascending, the upper spreading or often reflexed; panicles ovoid, 3-8 cm. long, two thirds to three fourths as wide, rather densely flowered, the slender branches usually stiffly ascending, with short spikelet-bearing branchlets in the axils; spikelets 1.1-1.2 mm. long, 0.7 mm, wide, elliptic, pubescent; first glume one fourth as long as the spikelet; second glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 1 mm. long, 0.7 mm. wide, elliptic.
Autumnal culms more or less reclining, the branches spreading, usually somewhat recurved, with crowded branchlets and spreading, subinvolute, reduced blades about equaling the reduced panicles of few long-pediceled spikelets; winter rosette prominent, the blades glabrous.
Type locality: Apalachicola, Florida.
Distribution : North Carolina to Florida, and west to Louisiana.

Panicum leucothrix Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 41. 1897
? Panicum cariilagineum^'NLuhl. Descr. Gram. 128. 1817. Panicum parvispiculum Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 347. 1897.
Vernal plants light olive-green, often purplishtinged ; culms tufted, 25-45 cm. high, erect or ascending, appressed papillose-pilose, the nodes scarcely swollen, pubescent; leaf -sheathsshorter than the internodes, papillose-pubescent, the hairs less appressed than those of the culm, rarely nearly glabrous, the margins ciliate, densely so at the summit; ligule 3 mm. long; blades rather firm, ascending or spreading, 3-7 cm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, rounded and papilloseciliate at the base, glabrous or rarely sparsely villous on the upper surface, velvety-puberulent beneath; panicles long-exserted, 3-8 cm. long, about three fourths as wide, rather densely flowered, the axis appressed-pubescent, with tufts of long hairs in the axils, the branches ascending; spikelets 1.2-1.3 mm. long, 0.7 mm. wide, ob ovate-elliptic, densely papillose-pubescent ; first glume about one fourth the length of the spikelet, obtuse ; second glume and sterile lemma equaling the fruit but not exceeding it; fruit 1.1 mm. long, 0.6 mm. wide, elliptic, slightly
*
pointed.
Autumnal phase ascending, usually decumbent at base, at first sending out from the lower
and middle nodes long branches similar to the vernal culms, later producing appressed, more
or less fascicled branchlets, the flat or somewhat involute blades not greatly reduced.
Type locality: Bustis, Florida.
Distribution: New Jersey to Florida, and west to Louisiana; Cuba and Porto Rico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly pan iculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma becoming indurate, enclosing palea and caryopsis, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, L emma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Stamens 6, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.