344 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Our two species furnish highly palatable forage but usually are not 

 abundant enough to be of much importance. 



Spikelets 5 mm long; panicle rather dense, the branches ascending. 



1. C. ARUNDINACEA. 



Spikelets 3.5 to 4 mm long; panicle loose, the branches spreading or drooping. 



2. C. LATIFOLIA. 



1. Cinna arundinacea L. Stout woodreed. (Fig. 701, A) Culms 

 erect, usually 1 to 1.5 m tall, often somewhat bulbous at base, soli- 

 tary or few in a tuft; sheaths glabrous; ligule rather prominent, thin; 

 blades flat, scabrous, mostly less than 1 cm wide; panicle many-flow- 

 ered, nodding, grayish, 15 to 30 cm long, the branches ascending; 

 spikelets about 5 mm long; glumes somewhat unequal, acute, the 

 second 3-nerved; lemma usually a little longer than the first glume, 

 bearing below the tip a minute straight awn; palea apparently 

 1 -nerved. % — Moist woods, Maine to South Dakota, south to 

 Georgia and eastern Texas (fig. 702). 



2. Cinna latifolia (Trevir.) Griseb. Drooping woodreed. (Fig. 

 701, B.) Resembling C. arundinacea; blades shorter and on the 

 average wider, as much as 1.5 cm wide; panicle green, looser, the 

 branches fewer, spreading or drooping, naked at base for as much as 



Figure 702. — Distribution of 

 Cinna arundinacea. 



Figure 703.— Distribution of 

 Cinna latifolia. 



5 cm; spikelets about 4 mm long; awn of lemma sometimes as much 

 as 1 mm long (rarely wanting) ; palea 2-nerved, the nerves very close 

 together. % — Moist woods, Newfoundland and Labrador to 

 Alaska, south to Connecticut, in the mountains to North Carolina, 

 to Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, in the Rocky Mountains to 

 northern New Mexico, to Utah and central California (fig. 703); 

 northern Eurasia. 



68. LIMNODEA L. H. Dewey 



Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulating below the glumes, the rachilla 

 prolonged behind the palea as a short slender bristle; glumes equal, 

 firm; lemma membranaceous, smooth, nerveless, 2-toothed at the 

 apex, bearing from between the teeth a slender bent awn, twisted at 

 base; palea a little shorter than the lemma. Slender annual with flat 

 blades and narrow panicles. Type species, Limnodea arkansana. 

 Name altered from Limnas, a genus of grasses. 



1. Limnodea arkansana (Nutt.) L. H. Dewey. (Fig. 704.) Culms 

 branching at base, 20 to 40 cm tall ; blades more or less pubescent on 

 both surfaces; panicle 5 to 15 cm long, narrow but loose; spikelets 

 3.5 to 4 mm long; glumes hispidulous or pilose; awn 8 to 10 mm 

 long. QJ. — Dry soil, prairies and river banks, Coastal Plain, Florida 



