,6A. TRIANDRTA. DIGYNIA. 107 



294. PoA et Eragrostis Trin. Agrost, 78 & 81, 

 PoA Eragrostis et Megastachya P. da Beauv. 

 Panicle branched and generally effuse. Meadow-grass^ 



1. V. annua L. : panicle subsecund, divaricate; spike- 

 lets ovate-oblong, 5-flowered ; florets free ; culm oblique, 

 compressed; root fibrous. Schrad. Fl. Germ. 1. p. 304. 

 W i 1 1 (L Spec. 1. p. 390. S m i I h FL Brit, I. p. 1 05. Eng, 

 Bot.UWAl. Elliott SL\. p. 15B. M uhl. Gram, p. 137, 

 Pursh Fl. I. p. 79. Roem. <^ Schult. II. p. 535. 



Root annual. Culms cespitose, 6 — 8 inches long, very smooth. 



Leaves linear, carinate, smooth. Sheaths loose. Slipule ovate. 



Panicle rather crowded ; branches generally solitary, at length 



horizontal. Calyx 4^ — 5-flo\vcred ; glumes nearly equal, ovate, 



acuminate. Corolla pubescent ; inferior valve obtuse, 5 -nerved ; 



superior valve shorter. 

 IIab. In fields, pastures, road-sides, &c. ; rare in woods. Flowers 



early in April and through the summer. Probably introduced 



from Europe, 



2. F.fasciculata'^: panicle expanding; branches straight, 

 fasciculate, crowded ; spikelets oblong, 3-tlowered ; florets free; 

 qalyx minute, unequal ; culm oblique, terete; root fasciculate. 



Root perennial, consisting of numerous thick fibres. Culm I — 2 

 feet high, firm, leafy, branched at the base. Leaves 6 — 10 

 inches long, flat, and with the sheaths very smooth. Stipule 

 ovate, obtuse. Panicle at first appressed, 3 — 6 inches long; 

 branches a little rigid, with short crowded ones in the axils. 

 Spikelets somewiiat racemose, sessile, crowded, oblong or lan- 

 ceolate, generally 3-fiovvered. Calyx smooth ; one of the 

 glumes larger, 3-nerved, minutely truncated at the tip. In- 

 ferior valve ol^ the corolla ovate, abruptly acuminate, indis- 

 tinctly 5-nerved, very smooth; superior valve ciliate on the 

 margin. Seed oblong, acute. 



Hab. In salt-marshes around the city of New-York, August. 



3^ P. de7itafa*: panicle loose, somewhat spreading; 

 branches capillary, virgate ; sjiikelets lanceolate, 5-flowered ; 

 florets free ; calyx unequal ; inferior glume obtuse, 3-nerved ; 

 inferior valve of the corolla 5-nerved, 5-toothed at the apex 

 ivhen old. Wikosoria pallida Cat, pi. New-York, p, 92, 

 "Vkxodix pcdlida Spreng, Ncut Entdeck, b, i. p. 246. 

 Root perennial, creeping. Culm erect, 3 feet high, terete, very 

 smooth. Leaves long, flat and membranaceous, pale green, 

 somewhat glaucous beneath. Sheaths striate, smooth. Stipule 

 elongated, ovate. Panicle large, weak, nodding when young, 

 few-liowered. Spikelets all pedicellate, pale green. Cahjx 

 smooth, scarious on the niargin; the inferior glume rather 

 acute. Valves of the corolla nearly equal, lanceolate ; the in- 

 ferior valve distinctly 5-nerved; the superior one lanceoiaic, 



