GENUS 44. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



205 



6. Agrostis canina L. Brown Bent-grass. Fig. 492. 



Agrostis canina L. Sp. PI. 62. 1753- 



Culms i-2 tall, erect, slender, simple, smooth and 

 glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes ; ligule 

 V'-il" long; blades i'-3' in length, i" wide or less, 

 scabrous; panicle 2 r -f in length, contracted in fruit, 

 the branches slender, naked below, ascending or spread- 

 ing in flower, the lower \'-2\' long; spikelets i" long, 

 on appressed pedicels, the outer scales subequal, acute, 

 strongly scabrous on the keel ; third scale about two- 

 thirds the length of the first, obtuse, smooth and gla- 

 brous, bearing a straight or somewhat bent dorsal awn 

 i "-2" long, inserted just above the middle; palet minute 

 or none. 



In meadows, Newfoundland to Alaska, south to Penn- 

 sylvania and Tennessee. Native northward ; naturalized 

 from Europe southward. Rhode Island or Dog Bent-grass ; 

 Fine-top, Furze-top. Much used for lawns. July-Sept. 



7. Agrostis borealis Hartm. Red Bent-grass. Fig. 493. 



Agrostis rubra L. Sp. PI. 62. 1/53. 



Agrostis borealis Hartm. Scand. Fl. Ed. 3, 17. 1838. 



A. rupcstris Chapm. Fl. S. States, 551. 1860. Not All. 



1785- 

 Agrostis rubra var. americana Scribn. ; Macoun, Cat. Can. 



PI. 5: 391. 1890. 



Smooth or very nearly so, glabrous, culms 6'-2 tall, 

 erect or sometimes decumbent at the base, simple. 

 Sheaths usually shorter than the internodes ; ligule i" 

 long; blades 2 r -4' long, i"-ii" wide; panicle 2\'-$' in 

 length, open, the branches generally widely spreading 

 and more or less flexuous, rarely erect, the lower \'-2\' 

 long; spikelets \\"-\\" long, the outer scales acute, 

 scabrous on the keel; third scale shorter than the first, 

 obtuse, bearing a usually bent dorsal awn 2"-2\" long, 

 inserted below the middle. 



Summits of the highest mountains of New England, 

 New York and North Carolina. Europe. Summer. 



Agrostis paludosa Scribn., of Labrador, differs by an 

 awnless flowering scale. 



8. Agrostis geminata Trin. Twin Bent- 

 grass. Fig. 494. 



Agrostis geminata Trin. Gram. Unifl. 207. 1824. 



A. hiemalis geminata Hitchc. Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. 

 PI. Ind. 68 : 44. 1905. 



Culms 2 '-4' tall, tufted ; leaf-sheaths smooth and 

 glabrous, overlapping; ligule \"-\\" long; blades 

 smooth and glabrous, erect, usually complanate ; 

 panicle 2i'-s' long, usually included at the base, 

 its branches very rough, ascending ; spikelets about 

 li" long, the first scale longer and broader than the 

 second, the third scale about i as long as the first. 



Labrador to Alaska. This may differ specifically 

 from the true A. geminata Trin. Summer. 



