642 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



greenish lower glumes ; the twisted strong awn (3|- 7' long), pubescent below, 

 rough above. — Plains and prairies, from 111. and N. Mich, northwestward. 



4. S. viridula, Trin. Culms clustered, 1 - 3° high or more; panicle 

 narrow and usually dense, 6-18' long; glumes very thin, 3-4" long; fertile 

 glume usually somewhat silky, with a short callus ; awn V long, slender, gla- 

 brous or a little pubescent below. — W. Minn., the Dakotas, and southwestward. 



21. O R Y Z d P S I S, Michx. Mountain Rice. (PL 8.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, nearly terete. Lower glumes herbaceous or thin-mem- 

 branaceous, several-nerved, nearly equal, commonly rather longer than the 

 oblong flower, which is deciduous at maturity, and with a very short obtuse 

 callus or scar-like base. Flowering glume coriaceous, at length involute so 

 as closely to enclose the equal palet and the oblong grain ; a simple untwisted 

 and deciduous awn jointed on its apex. Stamens 3. Squamulae 2 or 3, con- 

 spicuous. Stigmas plumose. — Perennials, with rigid leaves and a narrow 

 raceme or panicle. Spikelets greenish, rather large. (Name composed of 

 opvCa, rice, and o^is, likeness, from a fancied resemblance to that grain.) 



* Sti/les distinct, short ; culm leafy to the summit; leaves broad and flat. 



1. O. melanoearpa, Muhl. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed ; sheaths 

 bearded in the throat ; panicle simple or sparingly branched ; awn thrice the 

 length of the blackish glume (nearly V long). — Rocky woods, N. Eng. to 

 Peun., Minn., Mo., and westward. Aug. — Culm 2-3° high. 



* * Stifles united below, slender ; culms tufted, naked ; leaves concave or involute. 



2. O. asperifolia, Michx. (PL 8, fig. l, 2.) Culms (9-18' high), with 

 sheaths bearing a mere rudimentary blade, overtopped by the long and rigid 

 linear leaf from the base; very simple panicle or raceme few-flowered; awn 

 2-3 times the length of the rather hairy whitish glume. — Hillsides, etc., in rich 

 woods; common, N. Eng. to Minn., and northward. May. — Leaves without 

 keels, rough-edged, pale beneath, lasting through the winter. Squamulae 

 lanceolate, almost as long as the palet ! 



3. O. Canadensis, Torr. Culms slender (6-15' high), the lowest 

 ^heaths leaf-bearing; leaves involute-thread-shaped; panicle contracted (1 -2' 

 long), the branches usually in pairs ; glume pubescent, whitish ; awn short and 

 very deciduous, or wanting. — Rocky hills and dry plains, Maine to W. New 

 Eng., the mountains of Penn., Wise, Minn., and northward; rare. May. — 

 Grlumes 1 - 2" long, sometimes purplish. 



22. MILIUM, Tourn. Millet-Grass. (PL 13.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, diffusely panicled, not jointed with their pedicels, con- 

 listing of 2 equal membranaceous convex and awnless persistent glumes, with 

 A coriaceous awnless flowering glume and narrow palet. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas branched-plumose. Grain not grooved, enclosed in its glume and palet, 

 all deciduous together. (The ancient Latin name of the Millet, which how- 

 ever belongs to a different genus, of uncertain meaning.) 



1. M. efftisum, L. Smooth perennial, 3-6° high; leaves broad and 

 flat, thin ; panicle spreading (6-9' long) ; flower ovoid-oblong. — Cold damp 

 woods and mountain meadows, N. Eng. to 111., and northward. June. (Eu.) 



