Aristida. triandria digynia. 349 



very numerous, approximate, bifarious, drooping', sword- 

 shaped, from one to two inches broad at the base, from thence 

 taper to a fine point ; smooth on both sides, and in the mar- 

 gins. Sheaths also smooth, with a long membranaceous 

 margin round the mouth. Panicle oval, lax, from one to two 

 feet long, erect; ramifications alternate, ramous, drooping a 

 little. Flowers pedicelled, scattered. Calyx two or three- 

 flowered ; valves nearly equal, and of the length of the flow- 

 ers. Corol exterior valve three-nerved, and woolly on the 

 back, with a very fine, long, taper point. Inner valve small 

 and smooth. Nectary two, cuneiform scales embrace the 

 germ on the two sides. 



Obs. The wool which girds the base of the corol, in most of 

 the species, is in this species found growing on the back of its 

 exterior valve. 



ARISTIDA. Schreb. gen. N. 125. 

 Calyx two-valved, one-flowered. Corol one-valved, with 

 three awns at the top. 



1. A. setacea. Retz. Obs. iv. 22. Linn. sp. pi. ed. Willd. i. 



460. 



Erect, smooth, from two to four feet high. Panicle linear- 

 oblong, composed of fifteen to twenty sub-alternate, erectish 

 ramifications. 



Teling. Ship«r-gad«. 



Grows in a dry, barren, binding soil. 



Root perennial. Culm straight, generally simple, from 

 two to four feet high, and about as thick as a crow's quill at 

 the base, solid, and of a very firm ligneous texture, round 

 and smooth. Leaves few, narrow, margins involute, nerve- 

 less, smooth. Panicle bowing with the wind, linear, from 

 six to twelve inches long, composed of sub-sessile, remote, 

 ad pressed ramifications. Calyx, corol, &c. as in the family, 

 except that the three awns are erect. 



