PANICULARIA BOREALIS n. sp.
Plant glabrous throughout. Culms 6-15 dm. tall, from a creeping base, smooth, erect ; sheaths loosely embracing the culm, overlapping, smooth or roughish, the terminal one often embrac ing the base of the panicle ; ligule 5-15 mm. long ; leaves 9-23 cm. long, 2-10 mm. wide, erect, rather abruptly acuminate, rough on both surfaces toward the apex, the upper surface also often rough throughout, the smaller leaves usually conduplicate, at least when dry ; panicle, sometimes nearly simple, 1.5-5 dm. long, its main axis smooth, with the lowest internode 6-11 cm. long, branches erect, smooth, single, or in 2's or 3's, the lower bearing 3-12 spikelets 4-15 cm. long ; spikelets 10-17 mm. long, 7-13-flowered, appressed, on pedicels shorter than themselves, the empty scales with a broad scarious margin, t-nerved, smooth and shining, the first acute or obtuse, one-half as long as the second, which is ob tuse and erose at the apex and one-half to two-thirds as long as the first flowering scale, flowering scales 3.5-4 mm. long, about three times as long as the internodes of the rachilla, thin, a broad scarious margin at the obtuse and erose apex, 7—nerved, the nerves hispidulous, palets hyaline, slightly shorter than the scales, nar rowly elliptic, shortly 2-toothed at the obtuse apex, 2—nerved, the nerves green and narrowly winged, the wings serrulate ; stamens about i mm. long.
In water or wet places from Maine to the Catskill Mts., N. V., Idaho, California and Washington, and northward.
The smaller spikelets with thin flowering scales, which are hispidulous on the nerves only, clearly separate this from P. (L.) Kuntze, in which the flowering scales are hispidulous all over the back, and of much firmer texture.
I would refer to this the following specimens : Fernald, Van Buren, Me., July 25, 1893, No. 193.
Nash, Cairo, N. Y., July 1o, 1893.
Aiton, Idaho, June and July, 1892, No. 25.
Ballard, Swan Lake, Minn., June, 1892.
Brewer 8z Chickering, Geneva, N. Y., June 19, 1858.
Dr. Geo. Vasey recognized this plant as distinct from Glyceria fluitans, giving it the varietal name of angustata, but I cannot find that it was ever published. The G. angusiata T. Fries would, however, invalidate its use in this connection.