GRAMINE^. 



431 AGROSTIS. 



2. S. Canadensis. 



Leaves sela.ceous; panicle small; ^/umes smooth, ovale-obtuse, as long as 

 the pubescent fruit; «(/;« thick and short. Amherst, Mass. Neither this nor 

 the preceding species is common or of much value in agriculture. 



3. PIPTA'THERUM. 

 Glumes longer than the elliptic paleas ; scales ovate, entire. 



P. NIGRUM. Torr. Black-seeded Millet. Orjzopsis melanocarpa. .1f«A. 



Stem erect, simple, leafy, IS — 24 inches high ; panicle simple, flexuous, few- 

 flowered ; s;;i/a/t«5 racemose, ovoid-lanceolate ; gumes acummate, mucronate, 

 smooth; pa'tm hairy, nearly black when ripe, the lower one tipped with an 

 awn an inch in length ; fruit black. Rocky hills. Aug. 



4. ORYZO'PSIS. 

 Glumes 2. suhequal, loose, obovate, awnless; paleae 2,C}Hn- 

 dric-ovate, hairy at base; scales linear-elongated. 



0. asperifo'lia. Mx. Mountain Rice. 



Stem nearly naked, purple at base, 10—20 inches high ; leaves subradical, 

 erect, rigid, pungent at the point, nearly as long as the stem, cauline ones 

 few and very short; spikelcts in a racemose, simple, flexuous panicle, 1 — 2 

 upon each branch; glumes abruptly acuminate ; palece white, the lower one 

 with a long bent awn. Woods. Leaves green through the winter. Caryop- 

 bis white, about as large as rice, farinaceous. May. 



Tribe 2. AGROSTIDE^. 



Inflorescence panicled, rarely spiked. Spikelets solitary, 1 -flowered. Glumes and paletn of nearly 

 similar tixture., v.^uaUy carinate. 



5. AGRO'STIS. 

 Inflorescence paniculate ; glumes 2, acute, subequal, the 

 lower one larger ; paleae 2, unequal, the lower one larger, 

 awnless or awned, larger than the glumes. 



* Paleas awnless. 



1. A. vclga'ris. X. Red-top. Bent Grass. A. polymorpha. Gray. 

 Stem erect, 1—2 feet high; panicle spreading, with the branches finally 



divaricate ; leaves linear-lanceolate, nerved, scabrous, with smooth, striate 

 sheaths, and short, truncate stipules ; lower palea twice as large as the upper, 

 and nearly as long as the lanceolate, acute glumes. A common grass, spread 

 over hills, vales^and meadows, forming a soft dense turf. Flowers very 

 numerous, purplish, July. Introduced. 



2. A. alba. L. White-top. Florin Grass. A. decumbens. Mah. 

 Stem decumbent, geniculate, rooting at the lower joints, sending out stolons ; 



leaves linear-lanceolate, smooth, those of the stolons erect and subulate; 

 sheaths smooth, with a long, membranaceous stipule ; panicle dense, narrow, 

 at length spreading, whitish, sometimes purplish ; lower palea 5-nerved, 

 rarely awned. In meadows, or in dry soils, hence its characters are variable, 

 being often nearly erect. June. Introduced. 



3. A. lateriflo'ra. Mx. Muhlenbergia. Gray. 

 Stem erect or ascending, with swelling nodes, much branched and leaty 



above, often nearly leafless below, 1^—3 fe'et high ; leaves lanceolate, scabrous, 

 with half clasping sheaths; 7ja«jc/er>- numerous, terminal and lateral, narrow 

 and dense-flowered, lateral ones partly enclosed in the sheath; glumes na.riow, 

 acuminate, mostly shorter than the subequal, pubescent palea;. Wet shades. 

 Aa^. 



