A84 
often glossy, sharp-edged, scarcely longer than the rough-cuspidate scale.—Through- 
out the eastern United States on dry knolls and banks. 
37. C. Muhlenbergii Schk. Very stiff, the culm 3 to 7.5 cm. tall and much pro- 
longed beyond the few narrow and at length involute long-pointed leaves, pale 
throughout: head 2 cm. or less long, usually heavy, but the individual spikes clearly . 
defined: spikes 4 to 8, globular: perigynium nearly circular, glossy, very strongly 
nerved on both faces, spreading, falling easily at maturity: scale rough-cuspidate, 
about as long as the perigynimm but narrower.—Dry and poor soil, throughout the 
eastern States and in Texas. Variable in the nerving of the perigynium. When 
nerveless it becomes var. ENERVIS Boott. A common Texan form is var, AUSTRALIS 
Olney, distinguished by perigynium nerveless or nearly so, scales very sharp and 
prominently nerved, and especially by the bracts being dilated at the base and pro- 
longed. 
* * Staminate flowers borne at the base of the spikes.—HYPARRHENA. 
38. C. straminea Willd. Slender and erect, or the top of the culm often flex- 
uose, 3 to 9 din. high, the culm mostly longer than the narrow and long-pointed stiff 
leaves: spikes 3 to 8, tawny or straw-colored, small (3 to 6 mm. broad), globular or 
occasionally somewhat tapering below from the presence of many staminate flowers, 
commonly all entirely distinct on the very slender often zigzag or flexuose rachis: 
bracts none, or at least only the very lowest ones conspicuous: perigynium small 
and ovate, nearly flat, lightly nerved on both faces, the points spreading and rather 
conspicuous: scale acute, about the length of the perigynium.—Dry banks and 
fields throughout the eastern United States and in Texas. Var. BREVIOR Dewey, 
with stiffer culm, larger and more aggregated spikes in a short erect head, and 
broader perigynium, occurs within our territory. Var. IYALINA Boott is tall and 
slender: spikes much contracted below, medium in size: perigynium very thin, flat, 
and seale-like, the wide-nerved margin wrinkled above, produced into a very long 
and slender beak which give the spikes a comose appearance: scale small and incon- 
spicuous.—Florida to central Texas. 
39. C. albolutescens Schw. Culm very stiff, longer than the long-pointed leaves: 
spikes 4 to 8, contiguous or the lower ones separated, erect or ascending, prominently 
contracted both above and below, very densely tlowered, green or silvery-green. 
(C. straminea, var. fenea Torr.)—Near the seacoast from New Brunswick to Mexico, 
in Texas reaching as far inland as Houston, and probably farther. 
40. C. Brittoniana. Ruther stiff, 4 to 6 dm. high, the culm overtopping the 
leaves: spikes 3 to 5, usually contiguous at the top of the culm, globular and very 
large (often 2m, broad), rusty or whitish-rusty: perigynium very large, the body 
broader than long (5 to 6 mm. across), broadly winged, and very abruptly con- 
tracted into a long, well-defined beak, which is conspicuously spreading and prom- 
inently toothed. (C. Wrightii Olney, not Dewey. C. straminea, var. maxima Bailey.) 
—Damp fields, confined to Texas. Named for Dr. N. L. Britton, who has long 
insisted that it deserves specific rank. 
GRAMINEZ. (GRASS FAMILY.) 
By L. H. Dewey. 
Inflorescence paniculate, racemose, spicate or capitate, bearing the 
florets in 1 to many-flowered scaly (glumiferous) spikelets: glumes 
distichous; the lower two empty (rarely 3 or 4 or sometimes reduced 
to 1 or wanting); the other glumes (floral glumes) often similar to the 
empty ones, bearing in each axil a sessile flower composed of a palet, 
2or 3 minute scales (ledicules), 3 stamens, and a simple pistil; these 
