Ghiesbreght's Panic Grass

Panicum ghiesbreghtii Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 29. 1886
IPanicum Virletii Fourn. Mex. PL Gram. 29. 1886.
Panicum hirtivaginum Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 223. 1909.
Plants in small tufts, rather robust; culms erect, papillose, ascending-hirsute, 60-80 cm. high, the nodes densely hirsute ; leaf-sheaths mostly longer than the internodes, hirsute like the culms; ligule about 2 mm. long; blades erect or ascending, as much as 60 cm. long and 12 mm. wide, flat, not narrowed to the rounded base, papillose-hirsute on both surfaces or glabrescent; panicles short-exserted, nearly equaled by the upper blades,, 20-30 cm. long, usually less than half as wide, the branches ascending, naked at the base, the branchlets more or less appressed, bearing short-pediceled, approximate, but not crowded spikelets 3 mm. long, 1 mm. wide; first glume half to two thirds the length of the spikelet, acute, 3-5-nerved; second glume and sterile lemma strongly 7-9-nerved; fruit 1.9-2 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, elliptic.
Type locality: Mexico.
Distribution: Mexico and the West Indies to northern South America.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous , Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, 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, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating belo w 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 4-7 nerved, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, 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, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.