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P A N I C U M fanguinale.
C o cF s-foot P anick-grafs.
T R I A NDR IA Digynia.
G en. C har. Cal. o f 3 valves, fingle-flowered ; the
third valve very fmall. Seed inverted with the
permanent hardened corolla.
Spec. Char. Spikes finger-like, knotty at the bafe
on the infide. Flowers in pairs, beardlefs.
Sheaths o f the' leaves dotted.
S y n , Panicum fanguinale. Linn. Sp, PI. 84. Sm.
FI, Brit. 66. Hudf. 25. W ith, 1 1 5 . Hull. 15 .
Curt. Lond. fa ß . 4. t, 7. Mart. Fl. Ruß. t. 78.
Gramen dadtylon, latiore folio. Raii Syn. 399.
N o n e of the places of growth of this grafs mentioned by
Britifh writers is, we believe, fo conftantly to be depended on
as Batterfea fields, from whence our fpecimens were collected.
In other parts of the kingdom it occurs but fparingly or oc-
cafionally, as mull always be the cafe with fuch annuals
(efpecially grafles) as grow only in a rich manured foil.
The root is fibrous and annual, and the flowers are to be
feen from July to the end of autumn. Stems numerous, bent
and decumbent at their bafe, fpreading widely upwards, in
length from 12 to 18 inches, fmooth. Leaves broad, nearly
fmooth, generally Ihorter than their (heaths, which are flriated,
and frequently (but not invariably) hairy, each hair fpringing
from a fmall cartilaginous puncture, but all the punctures do
not always produce hairs. Spikes umbellate, or a little diftant,
fpreading, linear, their Italks zigzag, winged, often fwelled or
knotty at the bafe. Flowers in alternate pairs leaning one
way, of a dull violet hue. Calyx of 3 very unequal ribbed,
valves, of which the fmalleft is often abortive. Corolla of 2
concave valves, which become quite horny as the feed ripens,
Antherae and lligmas dark-purple.
It is a hard coarfe grafs, of no agricultural ufe.