Panicum acuminatum var. densiflorum (E. L. Rand & Redfield) Lelong

Panicum spretum Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 2: 248
1824.
Panicum nitidum densiflorum Rand & Redfield, Fl. Mt. Desert 174. 1894.
Panicum Eatoni Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 84. 1898.
Panicum octonodum J. G. Smith; Scribn. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 17: 73. 1899.
Panicum paucipilum Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 26: 573. 1899.
Panicum nitidum octonodum Scribn. & Merr. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 24: 34. 1901.
Vernal culms tufted, 30-90 cm. high, erect or slightly decumbent at base, sometimes sending out rootlets from the lower nodes, glabrous, the nodes swollen; leaf-sheaths loose, shorter than the internodes, usually ciliate on the margin toward the summit, otherwise glabrous, or the lower sometimes slightly pubescent; ligule 2-3 mm. long; blades firm, ascending or often reflexed, 7-10 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, sparingly long-ciliate at the rounded base, otherwise glabrous; panicles 8-12 cm. long, one fourth to one third as wide, rather densely flowered, the branches ascending or appressed, with short spikelet-bearing branchlets in the axils; spikelets 1.4^1.6 mm. (usually 1.5 mm.) long,0.7-0.9 mm. wide, elliptic, obscurely pointed; first glume one fourth to one third the length of the spikelet, obtuse or subacute; second glume and sterile lemma equaling the fruit at maturity, pubescent or rarely glabrous; fruit 1.3 mm. long, 0.7-0.8 mm. wide, elliptic, slightly pointed. Autumnal phase more or less reclining, branching after the maturity of the primary panicle, the earlier branches elongate, ascending but not appressed, bearing exserted panicles, the subsequent branchlets in short fascicles, the blades much reduced, sometimes minutely pubescent, overtopping the small ultimate panicles; winter rosette appearing rather early, the bladesglabrous or nearly so.
Type locality: New England.
Distribution: Maine to Florida, and west to eastern Texas; northern Indiana.

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 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like pa nicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence spike linear or cylindric, several times longer than wide, 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 be coming 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.