610 CLXJ. GRAMINE^. Bromus, 



—0 A highly important grain, one of the staple productions of the soil ; said 

 to have been "first discovered in the Island of Juan Fernandez. 



/?. nigra. Black Oats. — PalecB dark brown, almost black, awnless. 



y. secv.nda. Horse-mane Oats. — Panicle 1-sided ; av:ns short. 



5. A. sTERiLis. Animated, Oat. — St. 3 — 4f high, and with the leaves smooth, 

 the latter long, acute, flat ; spikelets 5-flowered, outer flowers and awns 

 hairy, inner flowers awnless. — (I) From Barbary. Cultivated as a curiosity. 

 The awns are 2' long, geniculate, and twisted more or less according to the 

 state of the atmosphere. Hence the tumbling motion of these spikelets in the 

 moist and warm hands, like a grotesque insect, f 



31. DANTHONIA. 



Ill honor of I\I. Danthoine, a French botanist. 



Spikelets 2 — 7-flowered ; glumes 2, subequal, longer than the 

 flowers, cuspidate ; paleas hairy at the base, lower one bidentate at 

 the apex, with a twisted awn between the teeth, the upper one 

 obtuse, entire. 



D. spiCATA. Palis. (Avena. Linn.) 



St. slender, nearly erect, 12 — 18' high, loicerlvs. numerous, 4 — 6' long, flat, 

 hairy above, cauline Irs. much shorter, subulate, erect,. on very short sheaths ; 

 panicle simple, spicate, short, erect ; spikelets 3 — 8 or 10, about 7-flowered ; 

 glumes a little longer than the flowers ; Ixncer palea hairy, about half as long as 

 its spirally twisted awn. — Pastures and open woods, Free States. June — Aug. 



32. UR ALE PIS. Nutt. 

 Gr. ovpa, tail, Afn-tj a scale or palea ; a characteristic term. 



Spikelets 2 — 3-flowered ; glumes 2, shorter than the flowers ; 

 flowers stipitate and distinct ; paleae 2, very unequal, distinctly 

 villous on the margins, the lower one tricuspidate, the central cusp 

 setose ; upper palea concave on the back ; fruit gibbous, coated. 



U. ARISTULATA. Nutt. 



Caespitose ; sts. procumbent at base, bearded at the nodes, 10 — 18' high ; 

 Ivs. subulate, the upper ones shorter than the sheaths, hairy beneath ; panicles 

 simple, racemose, terminal and lateral, concealed in the sheaths of the leaves, 

 the upper one partly exsert ; spikekt 3-flov.^ered ; aioyi of the palea as long as the 

 lateral cusps. Sea-coast and sandy fields, Mid. States. Aug. 



33. ARUNDO. 



Lat. arundo, a reed ; Celtic aru, water ; from its place of growth. 



Spikelets many-flowered ; glumes 2, awnless, lanceolate, unequal ; 

 lower flower $ and naked at the base, the others perfect, pedicellate ; 

 paleae unequal, the lower one mucronate, acuminate or slightly 

 awned. 



A. PHRAGMiTEs. (Phragmitcs communis. Trin.) 



St. smooth, stout, erect, 6 — 12f high, often an inch in diameter at base ; 

 Ivs. lanceolate, 1 — 2f by 1 — 2', rough-edged, smooth and glaucous ; panicle large 

 and loosely branched, branches in half whorls, rather erect, slender; spikelets 

 3 — 5-flowered, very slender, erect; glumes shorter than the flowers which are of 

 a dark hue, with tufts of white, silky hairs, about as long as the paleee. — 7j 

 Swamps and about ponds, Mass. to Iiid. ! July. 



Tribe 7. FESTUCACEiE. — Inflorescence panicled. Spikelets many-flower- 

 ed, oblong. Flowers sessile, closely arranged in 2 rows on the rachis. 

 Paleae of similar texture with the glumes, the upper one with 2 keels. 

 34. BROMUS. 



Gr. /3pa)[ia, food ; this name was formerly applied to a species of wild oats. 



Spikelets 3 — 20-flowercd; glumes 2, shorter than the flowers; 



