

GRAMINEAE. 119 



Empty scales i 25 cm. long or less ; sheaths glabrous or sometimes sparingly pubescent 



at the base. 

 Teeth of the flowering scale about i mm. long, acute ; culm leaves short ; panicle 



contracted. i. D. spicata. 



Teeth of the flowering scale 2-3 mm. long, awned ; culm leaves elongated ; panicle 

 usually open. 2. D. compressa. 



Empty scales more than 1.25 cm. long. 



Sheaths and flowering scales villous. 3. D. sericea. 



Sheaths glabrous ; flowering scales pilose on the margins. 4. D, epilis. 



1. Danthonia spicata (L.) Beauv. COMMON WILD OAT-GRASS. (I. F. f. 

 397.) Culms 3-7.5 dm. tall, erect, nearly terete. Sheaths glabrous or often spar- 

 ingly pubescent below; leaves rough, 2 mm. wide or less, usually involute, the 

 lower 1-1.5 dm. long, the upper 2.5-5 cm - l n gl inflorescence racemose or panicu- 

 late, 2.5-5 cm - * n length, the pedicels and branches erect or ascending; spikelets 

 5-8-flowered; empty scales 8-10 mm. long, glabrous; flowering scales broadly 

 oblong, sparingly pubescent with appressed silky hairs, the teeth about I mm. long, 

 acute or short-pointed, the bent and widely spreading awn closely twisted at the 

 base, loosely so above. In dry soil, Newf. to Quebec and N. Dak., south to N. 

 Car., Kans., and La. Ascends to 900 m. in Va. July-Sept. 



2. Danthonia compressa Austin. FLATTENED WILD OAT-GRASS. (I. F. f. 

 398.) Culms 4.5-9 dm. tall, erect, flattened. Leaves 2 mm. wide or less, rough, 

 lax, the basal from one-third to one-half the length of the culm; lower culm leaves 

 1.5-2 dm. long, the upper 7.5-15 cm.; panicle open, 6.25-10 cm. in length, the 

 lower branches generally spreading; spikelets 5-10 flowered; empty scales 1-1.2 

 cm. long, glabrous; flowering scales oblong, with a ring of short hairs at base, 

 pubescent with appressed silky hairs, the awn erect or somewhat bent, strongly 

 twisted below, slightly so above, the teeth 2-3 mm. long, acuminate, awned. In 

 woods, Me. and Vt. to N. Car. and Tenn. Ascends to 1800 m. in N. Car. July- 

 Sept. 



3. Danthonia sericea Nutt. SILKY WILD OAT-GRASS. (I. F. f. 399.) Culms 

 4.5-9 dm. tall, simple, glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes, villous; 

 leaves rough and more or less villous, 2-3 mm. wide, the basal one-quarter to one- 

 half the length of the culm, usually flexuous, those of the culm 2.5-10 cm. long, 

 erect; panicle 6.25-11.25 cm. in length, contracted, the branches erect or ascending; 

 spikelets 4-iO-flowered; empty scales 1.4-1.6 cm. long, glabrous; flowering scales 

 oblong, strongly pubescent with long silky hairs, the awn erect or somewhat bent, 

 closely twisted below, loosely so above, the teeth 2-3 mm. long, acuminate, awned. 

 In dry sandy soil, Mass, to N. J., south to Fla. May-July. 



4. Danthonia epilis Scribn. SMOOTH WILD OAT-GRASS. (I. F. f. 398a.) Gla- 

 brous. Culms erect, tufted, 4-7 dm. tall, slightly roughened just below the panicle and 

 puberulent below the brown nodes; leaves smooth excepting at the apex, 2-4 mm. 

 wide, erect, those on the sterile shoots 1.5 dm. or more long, the culm leaves 510 

 cm. long; panicle 5-7.5 cm. long, contracted; spikelets, including awns, 1.8-2 

 cm. long, 5-io-flowered; empty scales acuminate; flowering scales 5-6 mm. long 

 to the base of the teeth, pilose on the margins below and sometimes sparingly so on 

 the midnerve at the base, the teeth, including the awns, 2-3 mm. long, the central 

 awn 9-12 mm. long, more or less spreading. In swamps, southern N. J. to Ga. 

 May-July. 



53. CAPRIOLA Adans. 



Perennial grasses with short flat leaves and spicate inflorescence, the spikes dig- 

 itate. Spikelets i-flowered, secund. Scales 3; the 2 lower empty, keeled; flow- 

 ering scale broader, membranous, compressed; palet a little shorter than the scale, 

 hyaline, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas short, plumose. Grain 

 free. [Name mediaeval Latin for the wild goat, that feeds on this grass in waste 

 rocky places.] Four known species, of which three are Australian, the following 

 widely distributed. 



I. Capriola Dactylon (L. ) Kuntze. BERMUDA-GRASS. SCUTCH-GRASS. DOG'S- 

 TOOTH GRASS. (I. F. f. 400.) Culms 1-3 dm. tall, erect, from long creeping 

 and branching stolons, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths glabrous or somewhat 

 hairy, crowded at the bases of the culms and along the stolons; leaves 2.5-5 cm< 



