Agrostis 



Agrostideae 



127 



50 



Map 206 



Agrostis alba L. 



Palea about half as long as the lemma. 



Plant perennial from strong creeping rhizomes, without creeping and rooting 

 stolons; culms erect or only slightly decumbent at the base, not rooting at the 



lower nodes ; panicle open or spreading 1. A. alba. 



Plant perennial without rhizomes, with creeping and more or less rooting stolons; 

 culms usually decumbent at the base and rooting at the lower nodes; panicle 



usually contracted, sometimes open 2. A. palustris. 



Palea minute or lacking. 



Lemmas awned 3. A. Elliottiana. 



Lemmas awnless. 



Plants generally found growing in the open, usually flowering and maturing before 

 August 1; basal leaves narrow, stiff, mostly involute; panicles diffuse, gen- 

 erally purplish at maturity, the branches beginning to divide beyond the 

 middle. 

 Spikelets mostly 2-2.5 mm long; glumes connivent in fruit, covering the grain; 

 anthers mostly 0.5 mm long ; flowering in northern Indiana from about June 



3 to July 10 A. A. scabra. 



Spikelets mostly 1.4-1.9 mm long; glumes not connivent in fruit, exposing the 

 grain; anthers mostly about 0.2 mm long; beginning to flower in northern 

 Indiana the last of May and maturing the fruit usually by the middle of 



June 5. A. hy emails. 



Plants generally found growing in woods, usually flowering after August 1; basal 

 leaves flat, wider than in the two preceding species, generally lax; panicles open 

 or spreading, green or nearly so at maturity, the branches beginning to divide 

 mostly at or below the middle 6. A. perennans. 



1. Agrostis alba L. (Agrostis stolonifera var. major (Gaud.) Farw. 

 and Agrostis palustris of recent American authors, not Huds.) Redtop. 

 Map 206. This species has been commonly sown as a pasture and hay 

 grass in all parts of the state, especially in the southern part. It has 

 abundantly escaped everywhere and is found along roadsides and railroads 

 and in fallow fields, pastures, and waste places. 



Besides the commercial redtop, seed of other species of the bentgrasses 

 have been imported and sown in lawns and on golf courses. Several strains 

 of each species have been developed and some European authors credit one 

 species with 15 varieties and subvarieties. The species are separated with 



