562 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



on leafless radical culms ; lower palea (6" long) ovate-lanceolate, smooth, fringed 

 on the margins, awn-pointed. (Arundo tecta, Wall.) — Swamps, Florida to 

 North Carolina. Feb. and March. 



30. BRIZOPYRUM, Link. 



A low and rigid perennial dioecious grass, growing in saline marshes, with 

 linear-subulate involute distichous leaves, and many-flowered compressed spike- 

 lets, crowded in a nearly simple spike. Glumes and paleae smooth, somewhat 

 coriaceous, obtuse, compressed, not keeled; the lower ones several-nerved. Sta- 

 mens 3. Stigmas 2. Grain oblong, free. 



1- B. spicatum, Hook. Rootstocks long and ci-ceping; culms l°high; 

 leaves spreading, rigid, 2' -4' long, smooth, like the imbricated sheaths ; spike- 

 lets oblong, 7- 1.5-flowcrcd. (Uniola spicata. Ell.) — Low sandy shores and 

 marshes, West Florida, and northward. Aug. and Sept. 



31. POA, L. Meadow-Grass. 



Grasses with tufted culms, smooth flat and tender leaves, and compressed few- 

 flowered spikelets in loose or contracted panicles. Glumes unequal, shorter 

 than the flowers. Lower palca nearly membranaceous, keeled, .scarions on the 

 margins, awnless, 5-nerved, the three more prominent nerves mostly hairy or 

 woolly below ; upper palea 2-toothed, falling at maturity with the lower one. 

 Stamens 2-3. Stigmas plumose. Grain free. 



* Branches of the panicle sinr/le, or hy pairs. 



1. P. annua, L. Annual; culms tender, spreading, 6-10' high; leaves 

 linear, 3' -6' long, H" wide; panicle ovate, the smooth branches at length 

 reflexed ; spikelets ovate, about 5-flowered ; glumes obtuse or emarginatc, lialf 

 as long as the sparseh' hairy obtuse flowers. — Yards and gardens, Florida, and 

 northward. Feb. and March. Introduced. 



2. P. cristata, Walt. ? Annual; culms erect, 6' -10' high; leaves linear, 

 subulate, 1' long, ^" wide ; panicle linear or lanceolate, dense, the lowest of the 

 rough branches spreading; spikelets 3 -5-flowered; lower palea with a promi- 

 nent crest-like fringe on the back, barely longer than the acute glumes. — Dry 

 soil around Quincy, Middle Florida. April. 



3. P. flexuosa, Muhl. Pei-ennial; culms weak, mostly erect, 1°-H° 

 high; leaves narrowly linear ; branches of the panicle by pairs (li' - 2' long), 

 capillary, widely spreading ; spikelets 2-4 near the summit of each branch, pale, 

 oblong, 3-4-flowered; glumes acute; lower palea compressed and very obtuse 

 at the apex, hairy on the nerves. (P. autumnalis, Ell.) — Rich shaded soil, 

 Florida, and northward. May. 



* * Branches of the panicle 3 - 6 jn a cluster : perennials. 



4. P. pratensis, L. Culms terete, ascending from a creeping base ; leaves 

 mostly abruptly pointed ; branches of the panicle expanding, about 5 in a clus- 

 ter ; spikelets ovate, 3 - 5-flowered, crowded ; flowers closely imbricated ; lowei 



