GEAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 601 



37. ARISTIDA, L. Wire Grass. 



Slender grasses, with narrow leaves, and mostly loosely racemose or pan- 

 icled inflorescence. Spikelets 1-tlowered. Lower glumes membranaceous, 

 mostly unequal, acute or awued, the upper stipitate, coriaceous, involute, 

 triple- (rarely single-) awned. Palet minute. Stamens 1-3. Grain included, 

 free. — Awns (wheu dry) often bent or twisted. 



§ 1. Awn continuous (not jointed with the glume). 

 * Glume single-awned . 



1. A. Floridana, Vasey. Culms simple, 2° high ; leaves long, convolute, 

 bearded at the base; panicle 1° long, loosely branched; glumes equal, the 

 upper truncate; awn compressed, curved. (Streptachue, Flora.) South 

 'Florida, (Blodgett). 



* * Glume triple-awned. 



H- Lateral awns short and erect. 



2. A. dichotoma, Michx. (Poverty Grass.) Culms forking, 6' -12' 

 high; leaves almost setaceous; panicles simple or compound, 2' -3' long; 

 glumes equal or (in var. Curtissii, Gray) unequal; middle awn spiral below, 

 spreading, the lateral minute. — Dry sterile ground; common. August - 

 Sept. 



3. A. ramosissima, Engelm. Culms much branched, i°-li° high; 

 panicles few-flowered; lower glumes unequal, 8"- 10" long; middle awn 

 coiled below, recurved, the lateral l"-3" long, rarely wanting. — West 

 Tennessee (Gattiiiger). 



4. A, gracilis, Ell. Culms much branched at tlie base, very slender; 

 leaves flat ; panicle very narrow, with distant appressed branches ; middle awn 

 straight, rather longer than the rough .spotted lower glume, the lateral ones 

 much shorter ; glumes nearly equal. — Dry gravelly soil, Florida to North 

 Carolina. August. — Culms 6' - 12' high. 



5. A. scabra, Kunth. Culm scarcely any, the long (li°-3°) peduncle 

 arising from a creeping rootstock ; leaves radical, setaceously attenuate ; 

 panicle large, diffuse, the branches 2-5 in a cluster; spikelets appressed; 

 glumes awn-pointed, the lower one longer ; awns straight, erect, the lateral 

 ones very short ; stamens 2. — Sandy coast, Florida. 



t- -1- Awns long, equal, or nearly so. 

 ++ United at the tip of the glume. 



6. A. simpliciflora, Chapm. Culms filiform, 2° high, forking; leaves 

 flat, smoothish ; racemes simple, straight, 6'- 9' long, loosely flowered; empty 

 glumes 3" long, nearly equal, awn-pointed, the lower one rough on the keel, 

 longer than the floret ; middle awn circular-curved near the base. — Damp 

 pine barrens. West Florida. 



7. A. gyrans, Chapm. Culms simple, 1° high; leaves convolute-filiform : 

 panicle sim])le, with the branches short, appressed ; empty glnmes unecjual, 

 the lower 2" long, the upper one a third longer, attenuate ; flowering glume 

 long-stipitate, the awns nearly equal, curved at the base. — Keys of Caximbas 

 Bay, South Florida. Oct. 



