46 Class III. Order III. 



nate, sessile spikelets, more numerous and crowded, than in Lo- 

 lium perenne. Glumes all lanceolate, subulate, and acuminate. 

 Flowers all summer. Perennial. 



49. ELYMUS. 

 ELYMUS VIRGINICUS. L. Lyme grass. 



Spike erect ; involucres striated, four or six leav- 

 ed ; spikelets two or three together, each containing 

 two or three flowers, mostly smooth. 



The large erect spikes of this grass resemble at a distance 

 heads of barley. The stem is round and smooth. Leaves 

 smooth, somewhat rough on the margin. The stem ends in a 

 compressed, flexuous, toothed receptacle ; each tooth supporting 

 an involucre of four or six striated, rough, lanceolate glumes, 

 ending in short awns. Each involucre contains two or three 

 flowers. Calyx lanceolate with a straight terminal awn. 

 Marshes. July. Perennial. 

 ELYMUS STRIATUS. Will A. Striated Lyme grass. 



Spike erect ; involucre four leaved, nerved ; spike- 

 lets two together, each one or two flowered, hispid. 



Much smaller and more slender than the preceding, in its as- 

 pect resembling small spikes of rye. Leaves and sheaths va- 

 riable from smooth to pubescent. Involucre four leaved, deeply 

 nerved, two flowered, one floret commonly abortive. Awns 

 three or four times as long as the corolla, Woods. July. 

 Perennial. 



Subgenus GYMNOSTICUM. Involucre uncertain, spikelets 

 divaricate. 



ELYMUS HYSTRIX. L. Hedgehog grass. 



Spikes erect ; involucre of four bristles or callosi- 

 ties ; spikelets in pairs, divergent, at length divaricate. 



Syn. JlxpRELLA HTSTRIX, Cavan. 



GTMNOSTICHUM HTSTRIX. Schreb. 



This singular grass is known at sight by its pairs of diverging 

 spikelets placed almost at right angles with the rachis. It dif- 

 fers from the genus Elymus, in the apparent absence of the in- 



