Variable Rosette Grass

Panicum commutatum Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 2:
242. 1824.
Panicum nitidum majus Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 67. 1814.
Panicum nervosum Muhl.; EH. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 122. 1816. Not P. nervosum Lam. 1797.
Panicum Enslini Trin. Gram. Pan. 230. 1826.
? Panicum cordifolium Desv. Opusc. 88 [90]. 1831.
Panicum polyneuron Steud. Syn. Gram. 91. 1854.
Panicum commutatum minus Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 34. 1889.
Panicum commutatum latifolium Scribn.; Kearney, Bull. Torrey Club 20: 476. 1893.
Panicum commelinaefolium Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 29. 1898. Not P. commelinae-
folium ,Rudge, 1 805 . Panicum Currani Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 15: 113. 1899. Panicum subsimplex Ashe, Bull. N. Car. Exp. Sta. 175: 115. 1900.
Vernal plants commonly purple-tinged; culms in clumps of few to many, 40-75 cm. high, rather stout, erect, glabrous or sometimes softly (not crisp) puberulent; nodes puberulent; leaf -sheaths shorter than the long internodes, ciliate on the margin and with a densely puberulent ring at the summit, otherwise glabrous, or puberulent between the nerves ; ligule nearly obsolete; blades usually firm, spreading or ascending, 5-12 cm. long, 12-25 mm. wide, the lower and upper smaller than those of the midculm, rather abruptly tapering to an acuminate apex and slightly narrowed to the cordate-clasping base, glabrous on both surfaces or puberulent beneath or sometimes also above, the margin ciliate at the base; panicles usually longexserted, 6-12 cm. long, as wide or wider, loosely flowered, the axis glabrous or nearly so, the flexuous branches spreading; spikelets 2.6-2.8 mm. long, 1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, softly pubescent; first glume about one fourth the length of the spikelet, triangular, acute or obtuse; second glume and sterile lemma barely covering the fruit at maturity; fruit 2.2-2.3 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate.
Autumnal phase erect or leaning, branching from the middle nodes, the portion of the primary culm above the uppermost branch commonly falling away, leaving the branch, with its shortened internodes, crowded, rather loose sheaths, scarcely or not at all reduced blades, and hardly exserted panicle, at the apparent termination of the primary culm; secondary branchlets crowded toward the summit, the reduced blades exceeding the partly included, much reduced panicles; winter rosette appearing rather early, the blades firm, ovate.
Type locality: South Carolina.
DistributionMassachusetts to Michigan, and south to Florida and eastern lexas.

Panicum ashei T. G. Pearson; Ashe, Jour. Elisha Mitchell
Soc. 15: 35. 1898.
Panicum umbrosum I^Conte; Torn Cat. PI. N. Y. 91. 1819. Not P. umbrosum Retz. 1786.
Vernal plants usually conspicuously purplish, in loose clumps of few to several culms from a knotted crown; culms 25-50 cm. high, erect, stiff and wiry, densely crisp-puberulent, including the nodes ; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, less densely puberulent, shortciliate; ligule obsolete; blades usually thick and firm, spreading or ascending, 4-8 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide (the lower gradually smaller), acuminate, ciliate at the subcordate base and sometimes along the very scabrous margin, glabrous on both surfaces; panicles finally longexserted, 5-8 cm. long, hardly as wide, loosely flowered, the branches usually in distant fascicles, ascending or spreading; spikelets 2.4-2.7 mm. long, 1.2-1.3 mm. wide, oblong-elliptic, obtuse or obscurely pointed, short-pubescent; first glume about one third the length of the spikelet, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, slightly exposing the fruit at maturity, obtuse or withering to a point; fruit 2.1 mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate.
Autumnal phase erect or topheavy-reclining, the culms bearing divergent branches from the middle and upper nodes or from the upper only, the terminal joint of the primary culm commonly falling, the sheaths crowded or overlapping, the blades rigid and widely spreading, little reduced except those of late autumn; winter rosette appearing early, the blades thick and firm, usually prominently ciliate nearly to the apex.
Typb locality: Ithaca, New York.
Distribution: Massachusetts to Michigan, and south to Florida and Mississippi.

Panicum albomaculatum Scribn. Circ. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost
19: 2. 1900.
Vernal culms tufted, 50-100 cm. high, arising from a knotty crown, erect, slender but stiff, minutely puberulent to hirsute; leaf -sheaths long, the lower overlapping, puberulent to hirsute, more or less mottled with white spots, densely short-ciliate on the margin; ligule about 0.2 mm. long; blades firm, spreading or ascending, reflexed when old, 8-17 cm. long, 9-15 mm. wide, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded and ciliate at the base, roughish on the upper surface and with a narrow line of appressed pubescence along the very scabrous margins, glabrous or obscurely pubescent beneath, rarely hirsute on both surfaces; panicles longexserted, ovate in outline, 10-16 cm. long, two thirds to three fourths as wide, loosely flowered, the axis and ascending branches glabrous, or the former somewhat pilose; spikelets 2.8 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, obtuse, sparsely pubescent; first glume nearly or quite half the length of the spikelet, obtuse, or subacute; second glume and sterile lemma equaling the fruit at maturity; fruit 2.2 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, subacute.
Autumnal phase not known.
Typs locality: Patzeuaro, Mexico. Distribution: Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Panicum equilaterale Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 11:
42. 1898.
Panicum epilifolium Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 26: 571. 1899.
Vernal plants glossy, grayish-green, in clumps of several to many culms, these 25-70 cm. high, stiff and erect, glabrous or nearly so, including the nodes ; leaf -sheaths much shorter than the elongate internodes, or the upper two approximate, glabrous except for the densely shortciliate margin; ligule nearly obsolete; blades firm, widely spreading or ascending, 6-17 cm. long, 6-14 mm. wide, very scabrous (the margins nearly parallel), often ciliate at the rounded or subcordate base, acuminate, glabrous on both surfaces, often drying conduplicate ; panicles
usually short-exserted, loosely flowered, 5-10 cm. long, two thirds to three fourths as wide, the branches ascending; spikelets 3.2 mm. long, 1.3 mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, obscurely pointed, pubescent; first glume half the length of the spikelet or more, rather remote, triangular, acute; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, barely covering the fruit at maturity; fruit 2.6-2.7 mm. long, 1.25 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate. Autumnal phase erect or leaning, branching from the upper and middle nodes after the maturity of the primary panicle, these primary branches often longer than the internodes and producing short, fascicled, appressed branchlets with reduced spreading blades from thenuppermost nodes, the numerous small panicles partly included; winter rosette appearing late, the blades lanceolate, firm, sometimes ciliate.
Type locality: Eustis, Florida. Distribution: South Carolina to Florida.

Panicum mutabile Scribn. & Smith; Nash, in Small, Fl. SE
U. S. 103. 1903.
Vernal plants blue-green, glaucous; culms solitary or few in a tuft, erect, 30-70 cm. high, glabrous or rarely minutely pubescent ; leaf-sheaths much shorter than the internodes, glabrous except the usually sparsely ciliate margin; ligule very short, membranaceous-fimbriate ; blades horizontally spreading, 6-15 cm. long, 8-20 mm. wide, tapering to both ends, rather thin, glabrous on both surfaces, ciliate on the margin toward the cordate base or the lower ciliate nearly to the apex; panicles 7-15 cm. long, about as wide, very loosely few-flowered; spikelets 2.9-3 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely pointed, pubescent; first glume about one third as long as the spikelet, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma equaling or slightly exceeding the fruit; fruit 2.6 mm. long, 1.1 mm. wide, elliptic, subacute.
Autumnal phase erect or reclining, sparingly branching from the middle and upper nodes, the branches longer than the internodes, finally producing toward the ends fascicles of shortened branchlets with somewhat reduced leaves.
Type locality: Biloxi, Mississippi.
Distribution: Virginia to Florida, and west to Mississippi.

Panicum joorii Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 31. 1889
Panicum leiophyllum Fourn. Mex. PL Gram. 20. 1886. Not P. leiophyllum Nees, 1829. Panicum manatense Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 42. 1897.
Vernal phase rather pale grayish-green; culms in clumps of few to many, 20-55 cm. high, slender, spreading or ascending from a decumbent base, glabrous or rarely puberulent, at least the lower internodes purplish-red; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, ciliate, otherwise glabrous or rarely puberulent between the nerves; ligule nearly obsolete; blades ascending or spreading, 6-15 cm., rarely 18 cm. long, 7-18 mm. wide, thin but firm, often subfalcate, acuminate, narrowed toward the rounded base, usually ciliate at base, otherwise glabrous; panicles short-exserted, 5-9 cm. long, about two thirds as wide, loosely flowered, the branches ascending or spreading; spikelets 3-3.1 mm. long, 1.2-1.3 mm. wide, elliptic, abruptly short-pointed, pubescent; first glume one third to two fifths as long as the spikelet, acute; second glume and sterile lemma more or less pustulate-papillose between the nerves, the glume slightly shorter than the usually involute-pointed sterile lemma; fruit 2.4 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, elliptic, minutely umbonate.
Autumnal phase widely spreading, bearing more or less divaricate branches from all the nodes, these primary branches longer than the internodes and branching from all or from their upper nodes, the ultimate branchlets in short, dense fascicles, the reduced blades ascending, exceeding the numerous, small, partly included panicles; winter rosette a crown of a few short, leafy, basal shoots, with evident internodes.
Type locality : Louisiana.
Distribution: Virginia to Florida and eastern Texas; Vera Cruz.

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 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 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 lanceolate, Leaf blades ovate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades 2 or more cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflo rescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, 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, Lemma 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, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.