541 
2. D. imbricata (Thurb.) Scribn. Culms 4 to 8 dm. high, erect or decumbent at the 
base, usually simple: leaves often involute: panicle rather dense; branches numerous, 
3to5em. long: spikelets 6 to 8 mm. long, 6 to 10-flowered ; florets closely imlricated ; 
empty glumes subacute, the second twice as large as the first; floral glume trun- 
cately obtuse, or somewhat 3-toothed, the 3 nerves all slightly excurrent, the lateral 
ones pubescent below the middle. (Leptochloa imbricata Thurb.)—River banks, 
western Texas to the Gulf of California. 
3. D. dubia (HBK.) Benth. Culms erect, 4 to 8 dm, high, usually simple: leaves 2 
to 4 dm. long: panicle open, 1 to 2dm, long; branches alternate, 1 dm, long or less: 
spikelets 5 to7 mm. long, 2 to 5-flowered; empty glumes acute, slightly unequal; floral 
glume emarginate, mucronate between the broad obtuse lobes, smooth except the 
slightly ciliate margins. (Chloris dubia HBK. Leptochloa dubia Nees.)—Western 
Texas to northwestern Mexico and in southern Florida. 
+ + Floral glume subacute and denticulate or acute and entire. 
4. D. fascicularis (Lam.) Beauv. Culms 3to 6dm. high, erect or decumbent at the 
base, often branching: sheaths loose: panicle usually included below; branches alter- 
nate or subverticillate, spreading or nearly erect: spikelets 6 to 9mm, long, 6 to 10- 
flowered; empty glumes somewhat 3-toothed, the second twice as large as the first; 
floral glume mucronate or awned, 2-toothed, or somewhat 4-toothed by the excur- 
rent lateral nerves, pubescent near the base. (Iestuca fascicularis Lam. Leptochloa 
fascicularis Gray.) —Brackish meadows, Texas to California, northward in the Missis- 
sippi Valley, and along the Atlantic coast to New England. 
60. ERAGROSTIS Beauv. 
Spikelets 3 to 30-flowered, compressed, awnless, perfect except the 
upper floret: panicle usually large and spreading, rarely contracted or 
subcapitate; rachilla usually persistent with the palets: empty glumes 
ovate, acute, or subobtuse, membranaceous, 1-nerved, the seeond rarely 
3-nerved; floral glumes membranaceous, ovate, acute, or subobtuse, 
smooth or slightly hispid on the keel; palets arched, 2-keeled, slightly 
shorter than the glumes: grain oblong or globose, semi-translucent, 
amber colored, terete or with a shallow channel.—Perennials or annuals, 
usually with numerous leaves somewhat pilose at the ligule. 
* Panicle large, occupying one-half of the culm or more, loose and spreading: mostly erect 
perennials: culms simple or branching only at the base. 
~ Panicle virgately elongated: empty glumes narrow, very acute, about equaling the lower 
florets. 
1. B. tenuis (Ell.) Gray. Culms nearly 1 m. high: branches and remote sub- 
divisions in the panicle capillary, slightly hispid, usually pilose in the lower axils: 
spikelets 4 to 8-flowered, 5 to 8 mm. long, on pedicels usually twice as long; florets 
rather loose on the elongated rachilla: grain slightly grooved, about 1 mm. long. 
(Poa tenuis Ell.)—Sandy land, Texas to Kansas and Ohio. Var, TEXENSIS Vasey 
has spikelets 1 to 4-flowered, and lower glumes usually exceeding the lowest floret. 
—Texas to Louisiana. 
+ + Panicle broadly spreading: empty glumcs broadly ovate except in Nos. 3 and 4, shorter 
than the adjacent florets. 
++ Spikelets very short-pedicelled or sessile on the divergent subdivisions of the panicles. 
