550 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



The MEADOW Foxtail (A. pratcnsis, £-.), a taller species (2°-3° high), 

 with acute glumes, is scarcely spontaneous at the South. The same observation 

 applies 10 the TiMoiiiv or Heud's-uuass (I'hkum pratense, L.), which differs 

 from Alopecurus iu having two palete and awned glumes. 



5. SPOROBOLUS, Brown. Drop-seed Grass. 



Tough wiry and tufted or creeping perennial grasses, with narrow leaves, and 

 1-flowered awnlesa spikelcts, disposed in open, or crowded in spiked panicles. 

 Glumes 2, membranaceous, unequal, the lower one shorter. Paleee 2. mostly 

 longer than the glumes, and of the same texture. Stamens 3. Styles 2. Grain 

 oval or globose, loose in the thin membranaceous pericarp, deciduous. Panicles 

 exserted. 



* Panicles open. 



1. S. junceus, Kunth. (Wire-Grass.) Panicle narrow, the short and 

 spreading branches whorled ; spikclets on one side ot'th^ branches, short-stalked : 

 glumes smooth, the upper one acute, 2-3 times longer than the lower, and about 

 equal to the obtuse palese ; culms (1° - 2° high ) erect ; leaves chiefly radical, fili- 

 form and elongated, involute, those of the culm short and remote. (Agrostis 

 juncca, Michx.) — Dry pine barrens, common. April and May, and often in 

 October. 



2. S. FloridartUS, n. sp. Panicle diffuse, large; spikclets (purplish) on 

 long hair-like stalks; glumes acute, the lower one barely shorter than the obtuse 

 pales, the upper one a third longer ; leaves rather rigid, flat, pungent, very n mgh 

 on the edges. — Low pine barrens, Middle and West Florida. September. — 

 Culm 2° -4° high. Leaves 1°- 2° long. Panicle l°-l£° long. 



* * Panicles spiked. 

 •4- 3. S. Indicus, P>rown. Culms erect; panicle elongated, linear; leaves 

 long, flat ; paleffi twice as long as the glumes, the upper one truncated. (Agrostis 

 Indica, L.) — Waste places, Florida to North Carolina. May- Sept — ( uima 

 2°-3°high. Leaves with bristle-like summits. Panicle 6'- 18' long, turning 

 blackish. Spikclets crowded mi the short appressed branches. 



-^» 4. S. Virginicus, Kunth. Culms creeping, short-jointed, the Bhorl and 



mostly clustered branches erect; leaves 2-ranked, soon convolute, short and 

 rigid; panicle small, Lanceolate; glumes nearly equal, acute, rather longer than 

 the palese. (Agrostis Virginica, L.) — Saline marshes ami banks along the 

 coast, Florida to North Carolina. July and Aug. — Flowering Stems G'-L2' 

 high. Leaves 2'-4' long. Panicle l'-2' long, pale or purple. 



6. VILFA, Adam Rubh-Gbasb. 



Panicles contracted or spiked, more or less included in the Bheaths of tin 1 leaves. 

 Grain oblong <>r linear, adherent to the closely investing pericarp. Otherwise as 

 in Sporobolus. 



1. V. aspera, Beauv. Perennial; culms tall and slender; leaves '!,hi 



gated, rough above, brittle-like at the summit; panicles parti] included in the 



