564 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



appressed ; flowers minute, membranaceous, rather distant on the rachis ; lower 

 palea obtuse, 3-nerved. (Poa conferta, Ell.) — River-banks, Florida to South 

 Carolina. Aug. and Sept. — Panicle whitish. Spikelets 1"- 1|" long. 



* * * Culms simple, erect, shorter than the large and spreadiiuj panicle. 



6. E. tenuis. Gray. "Panicle virgately elongated (l°-2^° long), very 

 loose, the spreading branches bearded in some of the lower axils, their remote 

 divisions and long diverging pedicels capillary; spikelets 2-6- (sometimes 7- 

 12-) flowered, pale or greenish; glumes lanceolate or awl-shaped, very acute 

 (l^"-2" long), membranaceous, as are the oblong-Ianccolate acute flowers; 

 lower palea distinctly 3-ncrved ; the upper, ciliate-scabrous." Gray. (Poa te- 

 nuis, Ell.) — Greenville, South Carolina, Elliott; North Carolina, Curtis. Aug. 

 and Sept. y. ? — Leaves (1^° - 2° long) and sheaths smooth or hairy. 



7. E. eapillaris, Nees. Panicle widely expanding, the lower axils mostly 

 bearded : spikelets very small (1"- \^" long), 2 -4-flowercd, mostly purple, on 

 long diverging capillary pedicels ; glumes and flowers ovate, acute ; lower palea 

 obscurely 3-nerved. (Poa, Z. P. hirsuta, JSIichx.) — Dry uncultivated fields, 

 Florida, and northward. Aug. and Sept. — Leaves and sheaths smooth or 

 hairy. Panicle I°- 2° long. 



8. E. nitida. Panicle (\^°-S° long) reclining, the bristle-like or capil- 

 lary branches erect-spreading, naked in the axils ; spikelets linear, flat (3" -4" 

 long), 8-12-flowered, on erect-spreading pedicels l'-2' long; lower palea acute, 

 3-nerved, nearly smooth on the keel ; leaves and sheaths very smooth and shin- 

 ing. (Poa nitida, Ell.) — Low grassy places along tlie coast, West Florida to 

 South Carolina. Aug. and Sept. 11. — Leaves narrowly linear, longer than 

 the short (6' -9' high) culm. 



9. E. pectinacea, Gray. Panicle erect, widely spreading, or the rather 

 rigid and liairy branches at length reflexed ; spikelets purple, flat, about 8-flow- 

 ered, shorter than the erect or slightly spreading pedicels ; lower palea ovate, 

 acute, strongly 3-nerved, rough-keeled. (Poa pectinacea, Michx. P. hirsuta. 

 Ell., (Jr., not of Michx.) — Diy sterile soil, Florida, and northward. Aug. and 

 Sept. — Panicle 1°- 1 5° long. Leaves and sheaths mostly clothed with long 

 soft hairs. 



Var. refracta. Smooth throughout, or the sheaths of the short and rigid 

 leaves bearded at the throat ; panicle (6' - 12' long) with the branches reflexed ; 

 spikelets sessile or nearly so, 1 5 - 20-flovvered ; lower palea faintly 3-nerved. 

 (Poa refracta, Ell.) — Damp soil, Florida to North CaroUna. — Spikelets about 

 5" long. 



33. DACTYLIS, L. Orchard-Grass. 



Perennial grasses, witii simple culms, keeled leaves, and 2 - 7-flowered spikelets 

 crowded in a 1 -sided glomerate panicle. Glumes and lower palea herbaceous, 

 keeled, awn-pointed, rough-ciliate on the keel, the latter 5-nerved. Stamens 3. 

 Grain free. 



1. D. glomerata, L. — Near Charleston, JEJffio«, and northward. Intro- 

 duced. May and June. — Culms 2° -3° high. Leaves and sheaths scabrous. 



