PICTURED-KEYS TO COMMON AMERICAN 



GRASSES 



la. Plants with woody perennial culms, one to many meters tall (bam- 

 boos). Fig. 23. 



CANE 



Figure 23 



Tribe I. BAMBUSEAE 



ATundinaria gigantea (Walt.) Chapm. 



Stems (canes) woody, perennial, 

 reaching as much as 10 m. in height; 

 plants rarely flowering. Cane grows in 

 dense colonies, called canebrakes, in 

 river bottomlands from Virginia to the 

 Ohio Valley and southward to eastern 

 Texas and Florida. The canes are used 

 for fish poles, basketry, and in a vari- 

 ety of other ways. The young shoots 

 and leaves are eagerly taken by do- 

 mestic animals. A smaller form of cane, 

 with culms usually less than 2 m. tall, is 

 called Arundinaria tecta (Walt.) Muhl. 



While cane is our only native bamboo, a number of other species 

 are sometimes grown for ornament. Hardiest of these is Pseudosasa 

 japonica, a small bushy bamboo reaching 2 — 3 m. tall, spreading by 

 rhizomes and forming dense colonies. 



lb. Plants with non-woody annual culms, usually less than 2 m. tall 

 2 



2a. Some or all of the spikelets inclosed in bony beads or spiny 

 burs 3 



2b. Spikelets not inclosed in beads or burs 6 



3a. Pistillate spikelets only inclosed in smooth bony beads 4 



3b. Perfect spikelets inclosed in burs covered with hooks or spines 

 5 



15 



