602 CLXl. GRAMINEjE. Paspalum 



1. A. PRATENsis. Fox-tail Grass. 



St. erect, smooth, leafy, about 2f high, bearing an erect, dense, many- 

 llowered, cylindric, obtuse, compound spike, about 2' long ; Ivs. flat, smooth, 

 with swelling sheaths and ovate stipules ; gluvies ciliate, connate below the 

 middle, as long as the paleas ; av:>i twisted, scabrous, twice the length of the 

 flower. — % Fields and pastures. Northern States. An excellent grass. Jn., Jl. ^ 



2. A. GENicuLATUS. Bent Fox-tail Grass. 



St. ascending, geniculate, rooting below, sparingly branched, 1 — 2f high ; 

 spike cylindrical, about 2' long ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, smooth, flat, acute, a few 

 inches in length, with slightly inflated sheaths, and long, entire stipules; glumes 

 slightly connate at base, hairy outside ; palea truncate, smooth, half as long as 

 the geniculate awn. — %. Wet meadows, N. Eng. ! Mid. States and Brit. Am. Jn. 

 /?. aristulatus. Torr. (A. aristulatus. Mx.) Amis very short. 



15. CRYPSIS. Ait. 



Ch'. KOVTraif, concealment ; from the flowers being concealed in the sheaths. 



Inflorescence an oblong spike ; glumes 2, unequal, compressed, 1- 

 flowered ; paleae 2, unequal, longer than the glumes ; sta. 2 — 3 ; ca- 

 ryopsis loose, covered by the pale<«. 



C VlRGINlCA. Nutt. 



St. procumbent and geniculate, 6 — 12' long, much branched from the base ; 

 Ivs. finally involute, divaricate, .short, rigid and pungent, subpilose above ; spikes 

 oblong-cylindrical, thick and lobed, more or less enclosed in the inflated sheaths 

 of the leaves, the tenninal one about 1' long, lateral shorter and subcapitate ; 

 glumes roughened on the keel, the upper a little longer. — About Philadelphia, 

 Barton. Sept., Oct. 



16. PHLEUM. 



Gr. <p\cos ; used by the ancients probably for a different plant. 



Glumes 2, equal, carinate, much longer than the paleae, rostrate or 

 mucronate ; palese 2, included in the glumes, truncate, awnless. 



1. P. PRATENSE. Timothy or Herd's Grass. 



St. erect, simple, terete, smooth, 2 — 4f high ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, flat, 

 glaucous, roughish ; sheaths striate, smooth ; slip, obtuse, lacerated ; glumes ap- 

 parently bicuspidate, in a dense, long, cylindric, green spike ; anth. purple ; 

 'itig. white. — This is probably the most valuable of all grasses. It is extensively 

 cultivated, N. Eng., Mid. and W. States, and is probably native. 



2. P. ALPiNUM. Mountain Herd's Grass. 



St. about If high, simple, erect ; Ivs. shorter than the sheaths, broad and 

 cla.sping at base, acute at apex, smooth ; sheaths inflated ; spicate panicle oblong- 

 ovate, very short (4 — 5" long) ; glumes truncate, mucronate, with a fringed keel ; 

 awns as long as the glumes. — % Alpine regions of the White Mts., N. H. 

 Also native of Arc. Am. 



Tribe 4. PAXICEJE. — Inflorescence spiked or panicled. Spikelets 1 or 

 (more usually) 2-flowered, one of the flowers being sterile or imperfect. 

 Glumes usually (membranaceous) of a thinner texture than the palese, which 

 are more or less cartilaginous, the lower palea half enfolding the upper, 

 sometimes awned. 



17. p ASP Alum. 



G?'. -izacrTzaXoi, millet; from the resemblance of the seeds. 



Flowers in unilateral spikes ; glumes 2, membranaceous, equal, 

 suborbicular, closely pressed to the 2 paleae ; stigmas plumose, colored ; 

 caryopsis coated with the smooth, plano-convex palese. 



1. P. SETACEUM. Michx. (P. cilialifolium. Torr., <^c., not of Michx.') 

 St. erect, very slender, 1 — 2f high, simple or branched from the base, with 



