° i r [ 8 7 6 ]
PAN I CUM Crus-gOalli.
Loofe Pamck-grafs.
TRIANDRIA Digynia,
G en. C har. Cal. of 3 valves, fingle-flowcred ; the
third valve very ftnall. Seed invefted with the
permanent hardened corolla.
S pec. C har. Spike doubly compound ; its {talk
moftly five-angled : fpikelets alternate or in pairs,
fubdivided. Calyx bearded, rough.
S yn . Panicum Crus-galli. Linn. Sp. PI. 83. Sm. FI.
Brit. 65. Hud/. 24. With. 1 15. Hull. 15.
Curt. Loud. fa/c. 4. t . 8.
Gramen paniceum, fpicâ divisa. Rail Syn. 394.
v J A T H E R E D at Batterfea with the two la ft defcribed.
They are. all reckoned among our moft rare Britifh graffes.
They certainly cannot eafily be overlooked, efpecially that now
before us, which flowers at the fame time with the preceding,
and is likewife annual.
Root fibrous. Stems ftrong, eredt or fpreading, 2 feet high
or more, leafy, ftriated, fmooth. Leaves long and broad, rough,
with fwelling {heaths, without llipulre. Spikes eredt, twice
compound, being formed of fpreading branches generally
leaning to one fide, {landing either alternately or in pairs, and
each compofed of feveral thick-fet lobed fpikelets. The common
fpike-ftalk is rough, and more or lefs conftantly^-angled;
which however varies according to its luxuriance. Flowers
nearly feffile, without involucra. Calyx ribbed, briftly, its 2
larger glumes either with or without awns, which are rough
with eredt teeth, and very various in length. Corolla extremely
polilhed and even, tipped with a little point, now and then
downy at the fummit. A thin elliptical membrane is clapped
clofe to the inner valve of the corolla on the outfide, which
Dr. Stokes [With. ed. 2. 55.) confiders as a fourth valve of the
calyx, no doubt juftly, and mentions having feen it in the
•viride and fome other fpecies. W e have not however been
equally fuccefsful in this refpedt.