Agrostis. CLXl. GRAMINEiE. 597 



larger, sometimes longer, often shorter than the paleae; paleae 2, 

 unequal, lower one larger, awnless or awned, larger than the glumes, 

 coating the caryopsis. 



§ 1. Glumes longer than the palece. 



1. A. VULGARIS. Smith. (A. polymorpha. Gray.) Red-top. Dent Grass. 



St. erect, 1 — 2f high ; panicle spreading, with the branches finally divari- 

 cate ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, veined, 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. — % U. S. A common and very valuable 

 grass, spread over hills, vales, and meadows, forming a soft, dense turf. Flow- 

 ers very numerous, purplish. July. 



2. A. ALB^. (A. decumbens. Muhl.) White-top. Florin Grass. 



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

 Ivs. linear-lanceolate, smooth, tho.se 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-veined, rarely awned. — 

 Q) N. Eng. to Ohio, in meadows, or in dry soils ; hence its characters are vari- 

 able, being often nearly erect. June. § 



3. A. STRicTA. Willd. Bent Grass. 



St. erect, smooth, with black nodes ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, scabrous on 

 the margin, with cleft, while stipules; panicle elongated, strict, the branches 

 about 5, flexuous, scabrous, erect; glumes equal, lanceolate; palece unequal, 

 smaller than the glumes, with an awn at the base of the outer one twice longer 

 than the flower. — % Fields, N. Eng., N. Y. June. 



4. A. cANiNA. Dog's Bent Grass. 



St. prostrate, somewhat branched, rooting at the lower nodes, about 2f 

 long ; panicle at length spreading, with angular, rough branches ; glumes elon- 

 gated ; luivcr palea fmnished with an incurved awn upon the beak twice its 

 length. — % Introduced and common in wet meadows. July. ^ 



5. A. PicKERiNGii. Tuckm. (A. canina, fi. oJpina. Oakes.) 



St. erect ; Ivs. flat, linear ; pan. ovate, diffuse, branches verticillate, rather 

 erect, scabrous ; gl. subequal, keel of the lower mucronate at tip, upper acutc^ 

 smoothish ; loiver palece ovate-lanceolate, acute or ero.se, veined, upper ovate, 

 veinless ; awn from the middle of the back, contorted, twice longer than the 

 fls.— White Mts. 



li. rupicola. Tuckm. Smaller ; pa?i. contracted, smoothish, often purplish. 



Mountains, Vermont. 



§ 2. ViLFA. Glumes not longer than tlie suheqvnl, avmless palece. 



6. A. ViRGiNiCA. (Vilfa vaginiflora. Gray.) 



Sis. numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at base, nearly simple, 

 about a foot long ; Ivs. somewhat 2-rowed, involute, rigid, erect, 2—3' long, 

 with smooth sheaths which are hairy at the throat and swollen with the en- 

 closed panicles ; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones con- 

 cealed ; glumes nearly equal, about as long as the subequal palece. — Sandy 

 soils. Middle States. Sept., Oct. 



7. A. coMPREssA. Torr. (Vilfa compressa. Trinius.) Flat-stemmed 

 Agrostis. — Glabrous ; st. erect, compressed, simple, leafy, branched at base, 



1 — 2f h'igh ; Ivs. narrowly linear, compressed, scarcely shorter than the stem ; 

 keel prolonged into the open sheath ; stip. very short ; panicle purple, subsimple, 

 contracted, the branches few and erect ; glumes equal, acute, shorter than the 

 paleffi, the upper emarginate, rarely mucronate ; palecB ovate, obtuse, smooth, 

 sometimes deeply cleft ; stig. purple. — Sandy swamps, N. J. Sept. 



8. A. sEROTiNA. Torr. (Vilfa serotina. ejusdem.) 



St. 12 — 18' high, filiform, compressed, growing in patches, smooth, often 

 viviparous at the nodes; hs. 2 — 3' by J", keeled, smooth; sheaths open; stip. 

 ovate, short ; panicle 3 — 10' long, capillary, diff'use, branches flexuous, alter- 

 nate ; spikclets elliptical, scarcely J" long; glume ovate, 1-veined, unequal, half 



