GENUS 55. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



221 



2. Danthonia compressa Austin. Flattened Wild Oat-grass. Fig. 533. 



\ > 



Danthonia compressa Austin; Peck, Kept. Reg. N. Y. State 



Univ. 22 : 54. 1869. 

 Danthonia Alleni Austin, Bull. Torr. Club 3: 21. 1872. . 



Culms i2-3 tall, erect, slender, simple, flattened, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the inter- 

 nodes; ligule pilose; blades i" wide or less, rough, lax, 

 the basal from one-third to one-half the length of the 

 culm; lower culm leaves 6'-8' long, the upper 3 '-6' ; 

 panicle open, 2^-4 in length, the lower branches gen- 

 erally spreading; spikelets 5-io-flowered ; empty scales 

 5"-6" long, glabrous ; flowering scales oblong, with a 

 ring of short hairs at base, pubescent with appressed 

 silky hairs, the awn erect or somewhat bent, strongly 

 twisted below, slightly so above, the teeth \"-\\" long, 

 acuminate, awned. 



In woods, Maine to New York, south to North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. Ascends to 6000 ft. in North Carolina. 

 Tennessee Oat-grass. July-Sept. 



3. Danthonia sericea Nutt. Silky Wild Oat- 

 grass. Fig. 534. 



Danthonia sericea Nutt. Gen. i : 71. 1818. 



Culms i2-3 tall, simple, glabrous. Sheaths shorter 

 than the internodes, usually villous ; ligule pilose ; 

 blades rough and more or less villous, i"-i*" wide, 

 the basal one-quarter to one-half the length of the 

 culm, usually flexuous, those of the culm i'--j.' long, 

 erect ; panicle 2\'-\\' in length, contracted, the branches 

 erect or ascending; spikelets 4-io-flowered ; empty 

 scales 7 "-8" long, glabrous ; flowering scales oblong, 

 strongly pubescent with long silky hairs, the awn erect 

 or somewhat bent, closely twisted below, loosely so 

 above, the teeth i"-ii" long, acuminate, awned. 



In dry sandy soil, Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, south 

 to Florida and Mississippi. May-July. 



4. Danthonia epilis Scribn. Smooth Wild Oat-grass. Fig. 535. 



Danthonia glabra Nash, Bull. Torr. Club 24: 42. 1897. 



Not Philippi, 1896. 

 Danthonia epilis Scribn. Circ. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 



30: 7. 1901. 



Glabrous. Culms erect, tufted, i6'-28' tall, slightly 

 roughened just below the panicle and puberulent below 

 the brown nodes ; sheaths usually shorter than the in- 

 ternodes; ligule densely ciliate with long silky hairs; 

 blades smooth excepting at the apex, i"-2" wide, erect, 

 those on the sterile shoots 6' or more long, the culm 

 leaves 2'-4' long ; panicle 2'-$' long, contracted ; spike- 

 lets, including awns, 9"-io" long, 5-io-flowered, on 

 hispidulous appressed pedicels; empty scales acumi- 

 nate ; flowering scales 2-J"-3" long to the base of the 

 teeth, pilose on the margins below and sometimes spar- 

 ingly so on the midnerve at the base, the remainder of 

 the scale glabrous, teeth including the awns, i"-ii" 

 long, the central awn 4* "-6" long, more or less 

 spreading. 



In swamps, southern New Jersey to Georgia. May-July. 



