40 POACEAE 
and cult. grounds, n re Gulf States. Bis persisting after cult. Nat. 
of trop. Asia.—Spr.-fall.— vated in many varieties as sugar-cane, the main 
source of sugar. B el. nsed for forage. Miu its fruit in Fla. 
8. ERIANTHUS Michx. Reed- like perennials, with flat leaf-blades and 
terminal oblong usually dense silky panicles. Spikelets all alike, in pairs along 
a slender axis, 1 sessile, the other pedicellate, the rachis disarticulating below 
the poen the rachis-joint and pedicel falling attached to the sessile-spike- 
let: mes coriaceous, equal, usually copiously clothed, at least at the base, 
with i silky Ven hairs: sterile and fertile p hyaline, the latter 
bearing a slender awn: palea small, hyaline.—About 20 species, natives of 
nearly all tropical ind temperate regions.— WOOLLY BEARD-GRASSES. PLUME 
GRASSES.—Some species are cultivated ior ornament, but the plants are too 
coarse for forage 
Spikelets with a tuft of hairs at base. 
Awn flat, spirally coiled at base, the upper portion moré or less bent and flexuous 
or loosely spira 
Basal hairs ane as long as the brownish spikelets: poc not conspicuously 
. hairy, the ma xis and branches visible: stems us 
ally pins below. panicle. 1. E. contortus. 
Basal hairs copious, about twice as long as the yellowish 
E panicle conspicuously woolly, the hairs hiding 
he main axis and branches : zn villous below panicle. 2. E. divaricatus. 
usually straight, sometimes fle sone 
asal hairs rather sparse, shorter than the nse 3. E. brevibarbis. 
Basal a copious, longer n the spikelet 4. E. oe 
Spikelets naked, nearly so, at base D. E. st: 
E. contortus Ell Stem 1-2 m. tall, glabrous or sometimes sparsely ap- 
aad pilose below the panicle, the nodes glabrous or pubescent with erect 
deciduous. hairs: panicle 15-30 em. long, 
m the branches ascending but not we 
closely appressed: spikelets 6-8 mm. long, '/ M 
brownish, glabro us on the back, id raehis- 5) 
: »" tZ. 
about a ZU 
[E. Small Nash]—Moist ( EZ 
pinelands, thickets, and dry slopes, Coastal W: Ed - 
Plain, Fla. to E Tex., Okla., and Md. 7 
2. E. divaricatus (L.) A. Hitehe. Stem W a“ 
th 
) 
1.5-3 m. tall appressed-villous 
gZ- 
E 
e 
ER 
below 
panicle, "M nodes pub EE ressed-hirsute: — 
paniele 20—30 e dre ng, tawny or purplish: . m a= = REM f 
spikelets 5-6 m ong, pus sparsely vil- “=f RN 
is bd than th eopious basal hairs, -- —— 
the s ong. [E. alopecuroides 
En J—I mp ode d rocky hills, and or of ce S rig Plain 
and Suc more northern provinees, Fla. to E Tex. 
3. E. brevibarbis Michx. Stem 1-2 m. tall, a the nodes p or 
appressed-hirsute: panicle 20-30 ¢ em, ong: rown or purplish, the branches 
ascending, not conspicuously woolly: spikelets 6-7 mm. long, brown.—Moist 
soil, low thickets and about ponds Coastal Plain, Fla. to La. and Del 
4, E. saccharoides Michx. Stem 1-3 m. tall, appressed-villous below the 
panicle, the nodes hispid with appressed-deciduous hairs: panicle oblong or 
ovoid, tawny or purplish, 10-40 cm. long, rather compact (E. ie or 
somewhat open: spikelets 5-7 mm. long, sparsely long-villous on the upper 
part. [E. lazus Nash E. compactus Nash E. Tracyi Nash]—Moist soil, 
