GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 551 



upper sheaths ; palene rough-hairy, Unequal, awl-pointed, 2 - 3 times as long as 

 the rough-keeled glumes and linear grain. (Agrostis aspera, Mkhx. A. clan- 

 destina, Spray.) — Dry sandy soil, Florida, and northward. July and Aug. — 

 Culms 2°- 3° high. Sheaths hairy at the throat. 



2. V. vaginaeflora, Torr. Annual; culms low, clustered, hearing con- 

 cealed panicles at every joint, the terminal one partly exeerted ; leaves short, 

 smootlii>h ; paleSB ovate, smooth, one third longer than the smooth glumes and 

 oval grain. (Agrostis Virginica, ^fllhl. Crypsis Virginica, Nutt.) — Dry bar- 

 ren soil, North Carolina, and northward. September. — Culms C-12' high. 

 Leaves 2' - 4' long. 



7. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Geass. 



Tufied usually tender grasses, with flat and narrow leaves ; the small l-flow r erccl 

 spikelets racemose on the hair-like clustered branches of the open panicle, on 

 thickened pedicels. Glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the paleae. Palese 2, 

 the lower one commonly awned on the back, 3-5-nerved, the upper 2-nerved, 

 occasionally minute or wanting. Stamens 1-3. Styles or stigmas 2. Grain 

 free. 



$ 1. TRICHODIUM. Upper palea minute or u-antinrj, the lower aivnless, shorter 

 than the unequal acute rough-keeled glumes. 



1. A. elata, Trin. Culms stout, erect; leaves flat (1" -2" wide) ; branches 

 of the panicle flower-bearing above the middle. (A. dispar, Mkhx. 1) — Swamps, 

 North Carolina, Curtis. September. 1J. — Culms 2° -3° high. Panicles large 

 and diffuse. 



/ 2. A. perennans, Gray. Culms slender, decumbent at the base; leaves 

 flat (1"- 2" wide); branches of the panicle short, flower-bearing from below 

 the middle ; spikelets whitish. (T. perennans, 7:7/.) — Swamps and river-banks, 

 Florida, and northward. July and Aug. 1J. — Culms l°-2° high. 



3. A. scabra, Willd. Culms slender, erect; leaves short; branches of the 

 panicle long, hair-like, hispid, bearing the purple spikelets near their summits. 

 (T. laxiflorum, Ell.) — Sterile soil, Florida, and northward. June and July, 

 (j) — Panicle usually as long as the culm. 



$ 2. AGROSTIS Proper. Upper palea manifest : the lower commonly awned on 



the back. 



.X 4. A. alba, L. Culms ascending from a creeping base ; panicle spreading 

 in flower, contracted in fruit; glumes (whitish) nearly equal, rough-keeled; pa- 

 leae hairy at the base, the lower twice as long as the upper one, awnless or short- 

 awncd. — Damp soil, Florida, and northward. Introduced. — Culms l°-3° 

 long. 



5. A. rupestris, All. Culms slender, erect; panicle small, oblong, with 

 erect smooth branches ; glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, rough-keeled ; lower 

 palea one third shorter than the glumes, short-awned below the middle, the upper 



one minute. — High mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July 



Culms 1° high. 



