Pitchfork Crown Grass

Paspalum bifidum (Bertol.) Nash, Bull. Torrey
Club 24 : 192. 1897.
Panicum floridanum Trin. M^m. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. S'-^ : 248. 1834. Not Paspalum flori-
danum. Michx. 1803. Panicum bifidum Bertol. Mem. Accad. Bologna 2 : 598. 1850. Panicum alabamense Trin.; Steud. Syn. Gram. 64. 1854. Paspalum racemulosum Nutt.; Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 571. 1860. Paspalum interruptum Wood, Class Book ed. 1861. 783. 1861. Paspalum racemosum Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2 : 87. 1896. Not P. racemosum I,am. 1791.
A glaucous perennial with stout scaly rootstocks, the scales appressed-hirsute, flat leafblades, and glabrous spikelets. Stems 7-13 dm. tall, single; leaves mostly at the base of the stem; sheaths, at least the external basal ones, papillose-hirsute; blades 3 dm. long or less, generally 5-10 mm. wide, narrowed at both ends, glabrous or but sparingly hirsute beneath, strongly hirsute above toward the base; racemes usually 2 or 3, sometimes more or only 1, 7-15 cm. long, erect, the rachis triangular, slender, the lateral margins not winged; spikelets in rather distant pairs, oval, 3.5-4 mm. long and about 2.5 mm. wide, the first scale wanting, or sometimes present but small or rudimentary, the second scale 7-nerved, the third scale 5-nerved, the fruiting scale yellowish, minutely roughened.
Type locality : Alabama.
Distribution : South Carolina to Florida, and west to Texas.