562 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



on leafless radical culms ; Lower palea (6" long) ovate-lanceolate, smooth, fringed 

 on the margins, awn-pointed. (Arondo tecta, Walt.) — Swamps, Florida to 



North Carolina. Feb. and March. 



30. BRIZOPYRUM, Link. 



A low anil rigid perennial dioecions grass, growing in saline marshes, with 

 linear-sabulate involute distichous leaves, and many-flowered compressed spike- 

 lets, crowded in a nearly simple Bpike. Glumes and paleee smooth, somewhat 

 coriaceous, obtuse, compressed, not keeled ; the lower ones several-nerved. Sta- 

 ■ mens 3. Stigmas 2. Grain oblong, free. 



1. B. Spicatum, Hook. RoOtStOCks long and creeping; culms 1° high ; 

 leaves spreading, rigid, 2'- 4' long, smooth, like the imbricated sheaths; spike- 

 lets oblong, 7 - 15-flowcrcd. (Uniola Bpicata, f-'/l.) — Low sandy shores and 

 marshes, West Florida, and northward. Aug. and Sept. 



31. POA, L. Meadow-Grass. 



Grasses with tufted culms, smooth flat and tender leaves, and compressed few- 

 flowered spikelcts in loose or contracted panicles. Glumes unequal, shorter 

 than the flowers. Lower palea nearly membranaceous, keeled, scarious on the 

 margins, awnless, 5-nerved, the three more prominent nerves mostly hairy or 

 woolly below; upper palea 2-toothed, falling at maturity with the lower one. 

 Stamens 2 -3. Stigmas plumose. Grain free. 



* Branches of the panicle single, or by pairs. 



1. P. annua, L. Annual; culms tender, spreading, 6-10' high; leaves 

 linear, 3' -6' long, Ij" wide; panicle ovate, the smooth branches at length 

 rellexcd , spikelcts ovate, about 5-flowercd ; glumes obtuse or emarginate, half 

 as long as the sparsely hairy obtuse flowers. — Yards and gardens, Florida, and 

 northward. Feb. and March. Introduced. 



2. P. cristata, Walt.? Annual; culms erect, 6' -10' high; leaves linear, 

 subulate, 1' long, V' wide ; panicle linear or lanceolate, dense, the Lowest of the 

 rough branches spreading; spikelcts 3 - 5-flowered ; lower palea with a promi- 

 nent crest-like fringe on the back, barely longer than the acute glumes. — l>ry 

 soil around Quincy, Middle Florida. April. 



NL8. P. flexuosa, Muhl. Perennial; culms weak, mostly erect, l°-l£° 

 nigh; Leaves narrowly linear ; branches of the panicle by pairs (1^'- 2' long), 

 capillary, widely spreading ; spikelcts 2-4 near the summit of each branch, pale, 



oblong, 3 -4 flowered ; glumes acute J lower palea compressed and Very ODtUSC 



at the apex, hairy on the nerves. (P. autumnalis, EU.) — Rich Bhaded sod, 



Florida, and northward. May. 



* * Branch s of the panicle 3 - 6 in a chub r : /<• renniala. 

 4. P. pratensis, L. Culms terete, ascending from a creeping base ; Leavei 

 mostly abruptly pointed ; branches of the panicle expanding, about 5 in a clus- 

 ter; spikelcts ovate, 8 - 5-flowered, crowded ; flowers doael] imbricated; lower 



