108 



POACEAE 



2. Andropogon glomeratus (Walt.) B. S. P. 



Bushy Beard-grass. 



Fig. 220. 



Cinna glomcrata Walt. Fl. Carol. 59. 1788. 



Andropogon macyoiir}im Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 56. 1803. 



Andropogon glomeratus B. S. P. Prel. Cat. N. Y. 67. 1888. 



Culms erect, 50-100 cm. tall, simple below, branched 

 above, the branches erect and again successively 

 branched, forming a club-shaped or corymbiform 

 rather dense, or somewhat interrupted top : sheaths 

 compressed, scabrous ; blades 2-5 mm. wide, scabrous, 

 long-acuminate, the basal often as long as the culm ; 

 sessile spikelet about 5 mm. long; awn 1-2 cm. long; 

 pedicellate spikelet reduced to a single glume or 

 wanting. 



Foothills of San Bernardino Mountains (Parish, Reed) 

 and Funeral Mountains (Coville and Funston), eastward to 

 Florida and New York, and southward to Central America. 

 Type locality: South Carolina. 



Andropogon cirratus Hack. Flora 68: 119. 1885. A fragmentary specimen of what appears to be this 

 species was collected at Jamacha, Calif. (Confer). A perennial with solitary racemes, the sessile spikelet 

 6 mm. long. West Te.xas to Arizona and Mexico. 



3. HOLCUS L. Sp. PI. 1047. 1753. 

 [Sorghum Moench, Meth. PL 207. 1794.] 

 Spikelets as in Andropogon. but the first glume of sessile spikelet convex: pedicellate 

 spikelet well-developed, usually staminate ; racemes reduced to 1-5 joints, these disarticu- 

 lating tardily, the racemes in a large terminal open or contracted panicle. Annual or 

 perennial, mostly tall grasses with flat blades and terminal panicles. [An old Latin name 



for a grass, taken from Pliny.] 



.Species about 20, one Mexican, the others in the Old World, mostly Africa; two cultivated or intro- 

 duced in America. Type species, Holciis sorghum L. 



1. Holcus halepensis L. 



Johnson Grass. Fig. 221. 



Holcus halepensis L. Sp. PI. 1047. 1753. 

 Andropogon halepensis Brot. Fl. Lusit. 1: 89. 1804. 

 Sorghum halepense Pers. Syn. PI. 1: 101. 1805. 



Culms erect, glabrous, robust, 50-120 cm. tall, 

 producing stout creeping rhizomes ; blades flat, 6-15 

 mm. wide, the midrib prominent, white ; panicle 

 15-25 cm. long, more or less spreading ; fertile 

 spikelets about 5 mm. long, the glumes pubescent, 

 becoming glabrate and shining, the awn readily decidu- 

 ous ; staminate spikelets narrow, 4 mm. long on pedi- 

 cels '3 mm. long, the glumes meml)ranaceous, nerved, 

 glabrous. 



Occasional in fields and waste places, California. Common 

 in the southern States; introduced from the Old World. Apr.- 

 Oct. Type locality: Syria. 



4. HILARIA H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 116. pi. 37. 1816. 



Spikelets sessile in groups of three, the groups falling entire, the central spikelet (next the 



axis) fertile, 1-flowered, the two lateral spikelets staminate, 2-flowered; glumes coriaceous, 



those of the 3 spikelets forming a false involucre, in some species connate at the base, 



more or less unsymmetrical, usually bearing an awn on one side from about the middle; 



lemma and palea hyaline, about equal in length. Perennial low grasses, the groups of 



spikelets appressed to the axis in terminal spikes. [Name in honor of the French naturalist 



Auguste de Saint-Hilaire.] 



Species 5, southwestern United States to Central America, all liut one found within the limits of the 

 United States. Type species, Hilaria cenchroides II. B. K. 



Culms felty, pubescent. 



Culms glabrous or slightly puberulent. 



1 . H. rigida. 

 -!. H. janicsii. 



