Panicum L.

• Authority

  Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

• Family

  Poaceae

• Scientific Name

  Panicum L.

• Description

  Genus Description - Annual or perennial herbs of varied habits; culms erect or decumbent, unbranched to moderately branched. Leaves not distinctly distichous; sheath smooth or scabrous; ligule a membrane or a ciliate membrane; blades linear to ovate, flattened to involute. Main axis of inflorescence with primary branches arising at different points; secondary branches appressed or spreading; rachis terminating in a spikelet; disarticulation at the spikelet base; callus not differentiated. Spikelets adaxial, dorsiventrally compressed; lower glume encircling the spikelet base; upper glume as long as the spikelet; lemma of lower floret membranous sterile; lemma of upper floret fertile, cartilaginous, smooth to muricate, dull, with involute margins, the margins of the same texture as the body, muticous. Caryopsis with a whitish or grayish embryo.