Panicum L.

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Poaceae

• Scientific Name

  Panicum L.

• Description

  Genus Description - Annuals or perennials, various in habit, with open or contracted panicles. Spikelets 1-2-flowered, when 2-flowered the lower one staminate only. Scales 4, the 3 lower membranous, empty, or the third with a staminate flower, varying in the same species; the inner or fourth scale chartaceous, shining, enclosing a palet of similar texture and a perfect flower. Awns none. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, enclosed in the hardened fruiting scale and palet. [Old Latin name for some grass, probably the cultivated sorghum, referring to its panicle, taken from Pliny.] About 500 species, in temperate and tropical regions. Type species: Panicum miliaceum L.