GRAMINE.E. (gRASS FAMILY.) 577 



Tribe XI. BAMBUSE^. Spikelets few - many-flowered. Empty glumes 2 -sev- 

 eral. Flowering glumes awnless. 

 75. ARUNDINARIA. Culms tall and woody. Leaves jointed at the base, persistent. 

 Spikelets racemed or panicled. 



1. REIMARIA, Fluegge. 



Inflorescence as in Paspalum, but the sessile lanceolate spikelets consisting 

 of only one empty glume, and a membranous fertile floret. Stamens 2. 

 Grain enclosed. 



1. R. oligOStaehya, Muuro. Culms ascending from a creeping base, 

 l°-2° long, branching; leaves linear, attenuate; spikes 3-4, filiform, at 

 length refracted, I' -2' long; spikelets acute, appressed to the flexuous rachis 

 in two rows. — Wet banks. East Florida. 



2. PASPALUM, L. 



Spikelets usually ovate or orbicular, plano-convex, 1-flowered, borne in 2-4 

 rows in unilateral spikes or racemes, these terminal, or scattered along the 

 naked summit of the culm. Empty glumes 2, thin ; fertile floret coriaceous. 

 Stamens 3. Gi'ain enclosed. — Mostly perennial grasses, with flat leaves, and 

 long-ped uncled inflorescence. 



§ 1. Palet of the floret facing the rachis of the spike. 

 * Culms {branches} erect from a creeping base, 1 - 2-jointed : spikes 2-4, in 

 pairs or approximate, filiform : spikelets ovate-lanceolate, acute, alternately 

 appressed to the sides of the rachis: glumes longer than the floret. 



1. P. furcatum, Fliigge. Culms 1°- 2"^ high, 2-jointed; leaves 3" -5" 

 wide, obtuse ; peduncles 2-4 from the upper sheath, long and slender, and 

 often a single short one from the lower; spikes mostly in pairs, 2' -4' long; 

 spikelets 2" long. (P. digitaiia, Flora.) — Wet ground in the lower districts. 



2. P. platycaule, Poir. Culms ^°-l° high, 1-joiuted ; leaves l"-2" 

 wide, obtuse ; peduncles 2-7 from the sheath ; spikes oftener 3, very slender, 

 riong; spikelets barely 1" long, slightly pubescent. — Low ground, Florida 

 to Mississippi. 



§ 2. Palet of the foret facing outward. 



* Spikes approximate or in pairs, terminal, or solitary or axillary. 



3. P. distiehum, L. (Joint Grass.) Culms 1°- 2° long from a creep- 

 ing base; leaves glaucous, flat, linear, acute, 3' -6' long, 2" -3" wide, the 

 sheaths fringed; spikes 2-4, approximate, I'-l^' long; spikelets in 2 (rarely 

 3-4) rows, ovate-oblong, acute, often more or less pubescent. — Ditches and 

 damp ground, common. 



4. P. vaginatum, Swartz. Glabrous ; culms diffusely creeping, short- 

 jointed, the clustered branches, ^°-l° high ; leaves narrow-linear, attenuate 

 to a filiform point, concave or folded, l'-4' long, their short dilated sheaths 

 mostly imbricated ; peduncles short, single ; spikes in pairs, 1' or less long; 

 spikelets in 2 rows, lanceolate, acute, the upper glume mostly undulate. — Var. 

 REIMARIOIDE9. Every way larger, l°-3° long, spikes often in threes, 2' long; 

 spikelets ovate-lanceolate, ly long. — Saline marshes along the coast, Flor- 

 ida, and westward. 



37 



