(58 TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. fuirena. 



yg ? pnmila*: culm pubescent above ; leaves smooth ; 

 throat of the sheaths hairy ; spikes 1 — 3, terminal. 



Culm 3 — 6 inches l.igh, angular, smooth, except a little below 

 tl'e spikes. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 2 — 3, flat, equalling the 

 culm, striate, naked. Margin and throat of the sheaths hairy. 

 Spikes generally 3, often solitary, with 2 unequal leaf- like 

 bracts at the base. Glumes ovate-lanceolate, terminated by 

 short squarrose awns ; the lower ones hairy. Petals ovate- 

 lanceolate, embracing the seed by their bases. Stamens 3. 

 Seed triquetrous, pedicellate, surrounded at the base with 3 or 

 4 retrorsely scabrous bristles. 



Hab. On the ovei flowed sandy margin of a creek near Babylon 

 on Long-Island, in company with Gratiola aurea, Xyris 

 caroliniana, 8tc. 



This may be a variety of Y.aquarrosa; but if the characters 

 above given are constant, it certainly must be a distinct species. 



42. CENCHRUS. L. 



Involucrum lacmiate, echinate, includmg about 2 

 spikdets. Calyx 2-valved, 2-flowertd ; the inferior 

 flower sterile, the other perfect. Corolk awnless. Style 

 2-cleft. (Styles connate at the biise Trin.) Gtn.pl. 

 1574. Nu 1 1. Gen. I. p. 38. Ju s s. p. 30. Roe m, 

 CsP Schult. Gen. 1201. Trin. Agrostograph. 140. 

 P. de Beativ. Agrostograph, p. 57. t. Xlii. f. 7. R. 

 Brown Prod. I. p. 195. Nat. Ord. Gr amines 

 Ju s s. Flowers in a simple raceme or spike. Burr- 

 grass. 



C. echinatus L. : spike with the flowers approximated ; 

 involucrum subglobose, villose ; culm compressed. Wiltd, 

 Spec. I. p. 117. Vaht Enum. 11. p. 393. MnhL Gram. 

 p. 52. Roe in. 4)" Schult, II. p. 253. C carolimanus 

 Walt. Car. p. 79. 



Root fibrous, annual. Culm erect or procumbent, 1 — 2 feet long, 

 geniculate and branching at the base. Leaves lanceolate, 

 smooth, carinate. Sheaths smooth and swelling, bearded at 

 the throat. Raceines or spikes about 2 inches long, consisting 

 of 6 — 10 heads. Peduncle angular, pubescent, hivolucrum 

 cartilaginous, externally beset with rigid, retrorsely hispid 

 spines, pubescent, including 2 — 3 spikelets each bearing from 

 I to 3 flowers; lowest floret neuter. Calyx unequal, ovate- 

 lanceolate, smooth, 5-nerved. Corolla ovate-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, membranaceous, longer than the calyx ; inferior valve 

 7-nerved. Stamens 3. 6V7/^c filiform, deeply 2-cleft. Seed], 

 round-ovate, reddish brown. 



IIab. In sandy arid soils. On the hills at Kingsbridge near 



