GRAMINEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Munroa squarrosa (Nutt.) Torr. Mun- 

 ro's Grass. False Buffalo-grass. Fig. 558. 



Crypsis squarrosa Nutt. Gen. i : 49. 1818. 



M. squarrosa Torr. Pac. R. R. Rept. 4: 158. 1856. 



Culms 2'-8' long, tufted, erect, decumbent or 

 prostrate, much branched, smooth or rough. 

 Sheaths short, crowded at the nodes and ends 

 of the branches, smooth, pilose at the base and 

 throat, sometimes ciliate on the margins ; ligule 

 a ring of hairs; blades i' long or less, i"-i" wide, 

 rigid, spreading, scabrous, pungently-pointed ; 

 spikelets 2-s-flowered, the flowers perfect; empty 

 scales 'i-nerved, shorter than the flowering scales 

 which are about 2i" long, 3-toothed, the nerves 

 excurrent as short points or awns, tufts of hairs 

 near the middle; palets obtuse. 



On dry plains, Saskatchewan to Nebraska and 

 northern Mexico. Aug.-Oct. 



71. PHRAGMITES Trin. Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. 



Tall perennial reed-like grasses, with broad flat leaf-blades and ample panicles. Spikelets 

 3-several-flowered, the first flower often staminate, the others perfect; rachilla articulated 

 between the flowering scales, long-pilose. Two lower scales empty, unequal, membranous, 

 lanceolate, acute, shorter than the spikelet; the third scale empty or subtending a staminate 

 flower; flowering scales glabrous, narrow, long-acuminate, much exceeding the short palets. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct, short. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely enclosed in the 

 scale and palet. [Greek, referring to its hedge-like growth along ditches.] 



Three known species, the following of the north temperate zone, one in Asia, the third in South 

 America. Type species : Arundo Phragmites L. 



i. Phragmites Phragmites (L.) Karst. 

 mon Reed-grass. Fig. 559. 



Com- 



Arundo Phragmites L. Sp. PI. 81. 1753. 



Phrqgmites communis Trin. Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. 



Phragmites Phragmites Karst. Deutsch. Fl. 379. 1880-83. 



Culms 5-i5 tall, erect, stout, from long horizontal 

 rootstocks, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths overlap- 

 ping, loose ; ligule a ring of very short hairs ; blades 

 6'-i long or more, J'-2' wide, flat, smooth, glabrous; 

 panicle 6'-i long or more, ample; spikelets crowded 

 on the ascending branches; first scale i-nerved, half 

 to two-thirds as long as the 3-nerved second one ; 

 flowering scales 5"-6" long, 3-nerved, long-acuminate, 

 equalling the hairs of the rachilla 



In swamps and wet places nearly throughout the United 

 States, extending north to Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Brit- 

 ish Columbia. Also in Europe and Asia. Rarely ripening 

 seed. Pole-, Bog- or Dutch-reed. Spires. Bennels. Wild Broom-corn. 



Aug.-Oct. 



72. SIEGLINGIA Bernh. Syst. Verz. Pfl. Erf. 40. 1800. 



Perennial tufted grasses with flat leaf-blades and a narrow simple panicle. Spikelets 

 few, 3-S-flowered, the rachilla internodes short. Scales 5-7, the lower 2 empty, equalling 

 or nearly as long as the spikelet, the flowering scales very firm, rounded on the back, 

 obscurely o/-nerved, the nerves more prominent at the shortly 3-toothed apex, pilose near the 

 margins, the callus short and obtuse, pilose; palet 2-keeled, ciliate on the keels. Stamens 3. 

 Styles short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, enclosed in the scale. [Named in 

 honor of Prof. Siegling, German botanist.] 



A monotypic genus of the Old World. Type species: SiegUngia decumbens Bernh. 



