POA. TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 109 



leaves very short ; stipule acnminnte. M u h I. Gram, p. 1 38. 

 De Cand. Syn. Fl. Ga/L 1613^? P. alpina /3. brevifolia 

 Gaud? W alpina Pursh Fl. I. p. 71). 



JRoot perennial, creeping:. Culm 2 feet his:h, erect and oblique, 

 somewhat angular. Leaves linear, smooth, carinate ; the low- 

 est ones very short. Branches of the paiiicle fl -xukus towards 

 their extremities, sometimes ternate. S/iikelets loose, fl .rets 

 distant. Glumes nearly equal. Inferior valve of the corolla 

 carinate, 5-nerved, often purple; margin white; anthers violet. 

 Mu h L 



Hab. On mountains and in woods. Pennsylvania. April. 

 M ulilenb er g. 



7. P. pungens^: culm compressed ; leaves very short, 

 cuspidate; panicle somewhat simple, spreading; spikelets 

 ovate, 3 — 4-flowered ; florets vi^ebbed, rather obtuse, obscurely 

 5-nerved. P. autnmnalis Elliott Sk. I. p. 159.? J^ ut t. 

 Gen. I. p. 66. F. Jlexuosa MuhL Gram. p. 148. 



Root perennial. Culm cespitose, about a foot and a half high, 

 partly ancipital. Radical leaves erect, long and narrow; leaves 

 on the culm generally 2, flat, oblong, lanceolate, scabrous only 

 on the margin ; the lower one about an inch long, the other 

 just visible; all erect and carinate, with a coarctate, pungent 

 point. Stifiule truncate, lacerate, sometimes abruptly acumi- 

 nate. Sheaths long, but a little shorter than the nodes. Panicle 

 small, semiverticillate, alternate, hoi'izontally spreading, ter- 

 minating in an almost simple raceme ; branches capillary, 

 mostly by twos or threes; fasciculi 3 or 4. S/iifcelets crowded 

 towards the extremities of the ramifications, cuneate-ovate, or 

 lanceolate, before flowering somewhat acute, 3 or 4-flowered. 

 Calyx smooth, superior glume acute. Corolla ovate-lance- 

 olate, a little obtuse and scarious at the tip, villous at the base, 

 indistinctly 5-nerved ; 3 of the lesser nerves ciliately pubescent 

 below. Stamens exserted. Styles sessile, complicately plu- 

 mose, white. JSfutt. 



Hab. Around Philadelphia, in rocky situations, on the banks of 

 the Schuylkill, 8cc. April. J^u ttall. 



This species I have not seen. The synonyms oi E llio Ct 

 and Muhlenberg are doubtful. 



8. P. pralensis L. : panicle diffuse ; upper leaves much 

 shorter than the smooth sheaths ; florets acute, 5-nerved, 

 v^ebbed at the base ; stipule short, truncate ; root creeping. 

 Schrad. FL Germ. I. p. 298. Willd. Spec. I. p. 388. 

 Pwrs/t FA 1. p. 78. Roe7n. <^ Sch^llt. l\. p. 533. P. 

 -tiridis MuhL Gram. p. 138. Elliott Sk. I. p. 59. 



Root perennial. Culm erect, 2 — 3 feet high. Leaves a little 

 scabrous on the margin ; those on the culm 2 — 3 inches long ; 

 the radical ones much longer. Panicle pyramidal, expanding; 

 branches scabrous, 3 — 4 at each joint. Sfiikeleta ovate, acute, 



