526 
36. GASTRIDIUM Beauv. (NIT-GRASS. ) 
Spikelets 1-flowered, with a minute pedicel of a second, long and nar- 
row, in a rather dense tapering panicle: empty glumes unequal, attenu- 
ate-pointed, ventricose near the base, much longer than the floret; 
floral glume thin, 4-toothed, thinly pubescent, bearing a slender dorsal 
awn; palet equaling the floral glume.—Culms low and b ‘anching. 
1. G. australe Beauv. Culms 2 to 5 din. high: leaves narrow, mostly flat: pani- 
cle about 1 dm. long: spikelets 4 to 6 mm. long; empty glumes seabrid on the back, 
about four times as long as the floret.—Low land, rare. Introduced from Australia. 
37. LYCURUS HBK. 
Spikelets 1-flowered, subterete, in a narrow cylindrical spikelike 
panicle: outer glumes membranaceous, subequal, much shorter than 
the floret; the first 2 to 3-awned; the seeond l-awned; floral glume 
narrow, awn-pointed; palet slightly shorter than the glume. 
1. L. phleoides HBK. Culms 2 to 4 din. high, erect or geniculate at the nodes: 
leaves flat or conduplicate, rather rigid, recurved, short, narrow: panicle 4 to 8 em. 
long, 5 mim. in diameter: spikelets 4 to 6 mm. long; empty glumes about one-half as 
long as the purple-spotted floral elume and palet; awns of empty glumes shorter 
than that of the floral glume.—Mesas, western Texas to Arizona. 
38. ALOPECURUS L. (Mrapow FOXTAIL,) 
Spikelets 1-flowered, compressed, in a dense cylindrical spikelike 
panicle: empty glumes equal, carinate. somewhat connate near the 
base, slightly exceeding the floret; floral glume thin, obtuse, smooth, 
margins connate near the base, dorsally awned; palet wanting. 
1. A. geniculatus L. (WATER FoxTarL.) Culms weak. usually geniculate below, 
2 to5 dm. high: leaves narrow, 1 dm. long or less, with somewhat inflated sheaths: 
panicles about 5 em. long, 4 mm. in diameter: spikelets 2mm. long; empty glumes 
very slightly united, obtuse, pubescent, ciliate on the keels; awns arising near the 
base of the floret. about 5 mm. long.—Wet land, northern Texas and northward. 
39. TRISETUM Pers. 
Spikelets 2 to 4-flowered. in a contracted panicle; naked rachilla 
extending slightly beyond the base of the upper floret: empty glumes 
subequal, slightly shorter than the contiguous floret, 3 to 7-nerved, 
with rather broad membranaceous apexes; the second broader; floral 
gluine thin herbaceous, or membranaceous, with a slender awn arising 
between the two prominent slender teeth at the apex; palet hyaline, 
about two-thirds as long as the glume.—Low weak annuals, 
* Awn of lower floret short and straight. 
1. T. Hallii Scribn. Culms 3 to 5 dm. high, simple: leaves flat, scabrous: pani- 
cle 1 to 1.5 dm. long, somewhat interrupted: spikelets obovate, 4 to 5 mm. long; 
empty glumes obovate, subobtuse, scabrous on the backs.—Moist prairie land, cen- 
tral ‘Texas, 
** Awn of lower floret long and bent like the othere. 
