GRAMINEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Redfieldia flexuosa (Thurb.) Vasey. Red- 

 field's-grass. Fig. 566. 



Graphephorum ( ?) flexuosum Thurb. Proc. Acad. Phila. 



1863: 78. 1863. 

 R. flexuosa Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club 14: 133. 1887. 



Culms ii-4 tall, erect from a long horizontal 

 rootstock, simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 

 smooth, the lower short and overlapping, often 

 crowded, the upper much longer; ligule a ring of 

 short hairs; blades i-2 long, i"-2" wide, invo- 

 lute; panicle ample and diffuse, 8'-22' in length, the 

 branches finally widely spreading, flexuous, the 

 lower 3'-8' long; spikelets about 3" long, i-3-flow- 

 ered, the empty scales acute, glabrous; flowering 

 scales with a ring of hairs at the base, minutely 

 scabrous, twice the length of the empty ones, acute, 

 the middle nerve usually excurrent as a short point. 



On prairies, South Dakota to Colorado and Okla- 

 homa. Blow-out-grass. Aug.-Sept. 



77. DIPLACHNE Beauv. Agrost. 80. pi. 16. f. 9. 1812. 



Tufted grasses, with narrow flat leaf-blades and long slender spikes arranged in an open 

 panicle, or rarely only one terminal spike. Spikelets several-flowered, narrow, sessile or 

 shortly pedicelled, erect. Two lower scales empty, membranous, keeled, acute, unequal; 

 flowering scales i-3-nerved, 2-toothed and mucronate or short-awned between the teeth. 

 Palet hyaline, 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely 

 enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, referring to the 2-toothed flowering scales.] 



About 15 species, natives of the warmer regions of both hemispheres. Besides the following 

 species, about 6 others occur in the southern and western parts of North America. Type species : 

 Festuca fascicularis Lam. 



Awn less than l /3 as long as the flowering scale. 



Spikelets 2"-^" long, the flowering scales acute or obtuse at the 2-toothed apex, lateral nerves 



often excurrent. i. D. fascicularis. 



Spikelets s"-6" long, the flowering scales acuminate at the usually entire apex, the lateral nerves 



rarely excurrent. 2. D. acuminata. 



Awn Yz as long as the flowering scale or more. 3. D. maritima. 



i. Diplachne fascicularis (Lam.) Beauv. 

 Salt-meadow Diplachne. Clustered 

 Salt-grass. Spike-grass. Fig. 567. 



Festuca fascicularis Lam. Tabl. Encycl. i: 189. 



1791- 

 Diplachne fascicularis Beauv. Agrost. 160. 1812. 



Culms i-2$ tall, erect, ascending, or root- 

 ing at the lower nodes, finally branched, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths shorter than 

 the internodes, loose, smooth or rough, the 

 upper one longer and enclosing the base of 

 the panicle; ligule i"-2" long; blades 3'-8' 

 long, i"-iJ" wide, scabrous; panicle 4'-i2' in 

 length, often exceeded by the upper leaf, the 

 branches erect or ascending, the lower 2'-$' 

 long; spikelets 8-io-flowered, 2"-4" long; 

 lower scales glabrous, rough on the keel ; 

 flowering scales, exclusive of the awn, i$"-2" 

 long, the midnerve extending into an awn $" 

 long or less. 



In brackish marshes, Florida to Texas, and up 

 the Mississippi to Illinois and Missouri. Also in the West Indies. Aug.-Oct. 



