GLOSSARY 



Acuminate — Gradually tapering to 

 a very sharp point. 



Acute — Sharp -pointed, but less ta- 

 pering than acuminate. 



Auricle — Claw-like projections at 

 the base of the blade. 



Awn — A slender bristle at the end or 

 on the back of the glumes of a 

 grass floret. 



Axillary — In the angle between a 

 leaf and its stem or between a 

 branch and its axis. 



Axis — The main stem of a panicle. 



Blade — The upper, non-clasping part 

 of the leaf above the collar and 

 ligule. 



Bristle-like — Resembling a bristle. 

 Applied to narrow blades that 

 are rolled or folded. 



Bud-shoot — The growing uppermost 

 leaf as it emerges from the 

 sheath below. 



Capillary — Very slender or hairlike. 



Ciliate — Fringed with hairs on the 

 margin. 



Collar — The area, mosdy lighter in 

 color, on the outside of the grass 

 leaf at the junction of the sheath 

 and blade. 



Contracted — Said of an inflorescence 

 that is narrow or dense, the 

 branches short or close to axis. 



Decumbent — Curved upward from a 

 horizontal or inclined base. 



Dense — Said of an inflorescence in 

 which the spikelets are crowded 

 close together. 



Diffuse — Open and much branched. 



Digitate- — Arising from the top of 

 stem, finger-like. 



Drooping — Erect to spreading at 

 base but bending downward 

 above. 



Flexuous — Bent alternately in oppo- 

 site directions. 



Fused — United by normal growth. 



Glaucous — Covered with a waxy 

 coating that gives a blue-green 

 color. 



Hyaline — Thin and translucent or 

 transparent. 



Inflorescence — The flowering part of 

 a plant. 



Keeled — Angle or ridge on back of 

 sheath or blade usually formed 

 by midrib. 



Lacerate — Torn or cut at the edge 

 as though frayed. 



Ligule — A thin membrane or fringe 

 of hairs on the inside of the leaf 

 at the junction of the blade and 

 sheath. 



Loose — Open, the opposite of dense 

 or compact. 



Node — The joint of a stem, gener- 

 ally slighdy enlarged. 



Panicle — A compound or branched 

 inflorescence with the lower 

 branches longer than the upper. 



Rachis — The axis of a spike. 



Rhizome — A creeping, underground 

 stem which roots and develops 

 new plants at the nodes. 



Rough — Rough to the touch due to 

 minute points or teeth. 



Sheath — The lower part of the leaf 

 that encloses the stem or shoot. 



Smooth — Not rough to the touch 

 and without hairs. 



Spike — An unbranched inflorescence 

 with spikelets attached directly 

 to the axis (not on a pedicel or 

 branch). 



Spikelet — The unit of the inflores- 

 cence of grasses, consisting of 

 two glumes and one or more 

 florets. 



Spreading — Said of panicles when 

 the branches have an outward 

 direction. 



Stolon — An above ground creeping 

 stem which roots and develops 

 new plants at the nodes or tip. 



Tawny — Pale brown or dirty yellow. 



Throat — The V-shaped area at top 

 of sheath formed by the mar- 

 gins. 



Truncate — Ending abruptly, more 

 or less straight across. 



REFERENCES 



The following publications have been found most useful in the preparation of this identification key : 



1. Bennett, Hugh W., Hammons, 

 R. O., and Weissinger, W. R., Iden- 

 tification of Certain Mississippi 

 Grasses by Vegetative Morphology. 

 Miss. Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bui. 31, 

 1950. 



2. Blomquist, H. L., The Grasses 

 of North Carolina. Duke University 

 Press, 1948. 



3. Carrier, Lyman, The Identifica- 

 tion of Grasses by Their Vegetative 

 Characters. U.S.D.A. Bui. 461, 1917. 



4. Clark, S. E., Campbell, J. A., 

 and Shevkenek, W., The Identifica- 



74 • 



Hon of Certain Native and Natural- 

 ized Grasses by Their Vegetative 

 Characters. Dom. of Canada, Dept. 

 Agr. Pub. No. 762, 1944. 



5. Copple, R. F., and Aldous, A. E., 

 The Identification of Certain Native 

 and Naturalized Grasses by Their 

 Vegetative Characters. Kan. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Tech. Bui. 32, 1932. 



6. Hitchcock, A. S., Manual of the 

 Grasses of the United States. 

 U.S.D.A. Misc. Pub. 200, 1935, 2nd 

 Ed. rev. Chase, Agnes, 1950. 



7. Keim, F. D., Beadle, G. W., and 

 Frolik, A. L., The Identification of 

 the More Important Prairie Hay 

 Grasses of Nebraska by Their Vegeta- 

 tive Characters. Neb. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Res. Bui. 65, 1932. 



8. Nowosad, F. S., Newton Swales, 

 D. E., and Dore, W. G., The Identi- 

 fication of Certain Native and Natu- 

 ralized Hay and Pasture Grasses by 

 Their Vegetative Characters. Mac- 

 Donald College, P. Q. Canada, Tech. 

 Bui. 16, 1936. 



