GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 551 



tipper sheaths ; palese rough-hairy, unequal, awl-pointed, 2 - 3 times as long as 

 the rough-keeled glumes and linear grain. (Agrostis aspera, Mic/ix. A. clan- 

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

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



2. V. vaginseflora, Ton*. Annual; culms low, clustered, bearing con- 

 cealed panicles at every joint, the terminal one partly exseited ; leaves siiort, 

 smoothish ; palea3 ovate, smooth, one third longer tlian tlie smooth glumes and 

 oval grain. (Agrostis Virginica, Mii/il. Crypsis Virginica, A^«^<.) — Dry bar- 

 ren soil, North Carolina, and northward. September. — Culms 6' -1 2' high. 

 Leaves 2' - 4' long. 



7. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Grass. 



Tuficd usually tender grasses, with flat and narrow leaves ; the small 1 -flowered 

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

 thickened pedicels. Glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the palese. Palece 2, 

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

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

 free. 



§ 1. TRICHODIUM. Upper pulea vtinute or wanting, the lower awnless, 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, Michx.1) — Swamps, 

 Xortli Carolina, C«r^(s. September. Ij. — Culms 2°-3° iiigh. Panicles large 

 and diffuse. 



2. A. perennans, Gray. Culms slender, dccuml)ent at the base ; leaves 

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

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

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



3. A. SCabra, Wilkl. 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. 

 ■3) — Panicle usually as long as the culm. 



^ 2. AGROSTIS Pkopeu. L'jiper palea manifest: the lower commonig aicned on 



the back. 



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

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

 lese hairy at the base, the lower twice as long as the upper one, a^vnless or short- 

 awned. — Damp soil, Florida, and northward. Introduced. — Culms lO-S" 

 long. 



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

 erect smootli branches ; glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, rough-kcclcd ; lower 

 palea one third shorter than the glumes, short-awned below ti»c middle, the uppet 

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

 Culms 1° high. 



