GENUS 87. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



249 



2. Uniola latifolia Michx. Broad-leaved 

 Spike-grass. Fig. 597. 



[7. latifolia Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 70. 1803. 



Culms 2-5 tall, erect, simple, smooth and 

 glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; 

 ligule i" long, lacerate-toothed ; blades 4'-o/ 

 long, i'-i' wide, flat, narrowed into a somewhat 4. 

 rounded, often ciliate base, acuminate at the 

 apex, smooth, excepting on the margins; panicle 

 lax, 5i'-io' in length, its branches filiform and 

 pendulous, the lower 2'-$' long; spikelets many- 

 flowered, oblong to ovate, '-i\' long, on long 

 capillary pendulous pedicels ; lower scales much 

 smaller than the flowering ones, which are 4^"-6" 

 long, ciliate-hispid on the winged keel; stamen i. 



In moist places, Pennsylvania and Delaware to 

 Kansas, south to Florida and Texas. Ascends to 

 2000 ft. in North Carolina. Wild Oats. Aug.-Sept. 



3. Uniola paniculata L. Sea Oats. Spike-grass. Beach-grass. Fig. 598. 



Uniola paniculata L. Sp. PI. 71. 1753. 



Glabrous throughout, culms 3-8 tall, erect, 

 simple, smooth. Sheaths often longer than the 

 internodes; ligule a ring of hairs about i" long; 

 blades i long or more, about i' wide, involute 

 when dry, attenuate into a long slender tip ; pan- 

 icle 9'-! in length or more, the branches erect 

 or ascending, strict, rigid, the lower 2j'-s' long; 

 spikelets many-flowered, short-pedicelled, ovate to 

 oval when mature, i'-i' long; lower scales much 

 shorter than the flowering ones, which are 4." -5" 

 long and scabrous on the keels ; stamens 3. 



In sands of the seacoast, Virginia to Florida and 

 west to Texas. Also in the Bahamas and other West 

 Indies and South America. Spikelets persistent into 

 the winter. Seaside Oats. Oct.-Nov. 



88. DISTICHLIS Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 104. 1819. 



Dioecious grasses, with rigid culms creeping or decumbent at the base, flat or convolute 

 leaf-blades and spike-like paniculate inflorescence. Spikelets flattened, more numerous on 

 the staminate plants than on the pistillate, 6-i6-flowered; rachilla continuous in the staminate 

 spikelets, articulated in the pistillate. Two lower scales empty, narrow, keeled, acute, shorter 

 than the flowering ones ; flowering scales broader, many-nerved, acute, rigid ; palets 2-keeled. 

 Stamens 3. Styles thickened at the base, rather long, distinct. Stigmas long-plumose. Grain 

 free, enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, signifying two-ranked, probably in reference 

 to the spikelets.] 



Four known species, natives of America, inhabiting the seacoast or alkaline soil ; one of them is 

 also found in Australia. Type species : Distichlis maritima Raf. 



