[i? beecheyi sensu Hitchc. (1922), non Hook. & Arnott]
(end)
Cespitose annuals 10-60 cm tall; culms branched, glabrous or puberulent, the nodes villous. Sheaths glabrous; ligule a row of hairs 1-2 mm long; blades 4-10 cm long, 0.2-0.5 cm wide, glabrous or scaberulous, rarely villous above. Panicles 5-15 cm long, terminal and axillary, rachis scabrous and villous, branches appressed, scabrous to short-pilose; spikelets 3-4.5 mm long, acuminate, lower Vi hidden by the pubescence; glumes as long as spikelet, equal, 3- 5-nerved, lower 2A densely villous with hairs 1-2 mm long, apex puberulent to pubescent, internode between glumes distinct, ca. 0.3 mm long; first floret sterile, first lemma 2.5-2.7 mm long, slightly shorter than glumes, 7-nerved, pubescent toward apex, first palea rudimentary, ca. 0.3 mm long, hyaline; second floret 1.8-2 mm long, oblong-elliptic, glossy, smooth, the palea enclosed only at the margins; anthers white, 0.8-1.1 mm long. Relatively uncommon in exposed, open areas, 0-200 m, on Molo- ka‘i, Lana‘i, and Kaho‘olawe.— Plate 233.
This species is closely related to the com-mon and widespread Panicum torridum and differs primarily in pubescence characteristics and its narrow leaves. In P. ramosius the hairs on the glumes tend to be more numerous and denser as well as more concentrated in the middle of the glumes. They, therefore, tend to form distinct clusters along the margins and between the nerves, whereas in P. torridum they tend to be evenly spaced. Experimental work could prove it to be only a minor segregate.