West Indian Panic Grass

Panicum diffusum Sw. Prodr. 23. 1788
Panicum caespititium Lam. Tab. Encyc. 1; 173. 1791.
Plants in small, dense tufts, spreading, or ascending from a decumbent base, simple or sparingly branching, rarely repeatedly branching, 25-50 cm. high; culms slender, wiry, glabrous, 223
the nodes appressed-pubescent ; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, striate, glabrous, or pubescent along the margin toward the summit or the lower sparsely so throughout ; ligule about 1 mm. long; blades erect from the sheath but often spreading at the ends, 5-20 cm. long, 1-3 mm. wide, flat or drying subin volute, sparsely pilose on the upper surface, glabrous or sparingly pubescent beneath; panicles exserted, 5-10 cm. long, nearly as wide, the few capillary branches at first ascending, stiffly spreading at maturity, bearing a few short-pediceled spikelets toward the ends; spikelets 2.1-2.5 mm. long, about 1 mm. wide; first glume about half the length of the spikelet, acute, 5-nerved; second glume and sterile lemma 7-9-nerved; fruit 1.5-1.6 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, elliptic.
Type locality: Jamaica.
Distribution: Bahamas and the West Indies.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems trailing, spreading or prostr ate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, 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 cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, 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, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile 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 4-7 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 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, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.