644 GRAMINEiE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



slightly unequal, short-pointed, half the length of the flowering one, which bears 

 an awn 3-4 times the length of the spikelet. — Rocky woods; rather com 

 mon. Aug. 



7. M. diffusa, Schreber. (Drop-seed. Nimble Will.) (F1. 8, fig. 

 3-5.) Cuhns diffusely much branched (8-18' high); contracted />a72/c/es 

 slender, rather loosely many-flowered, terminal and lateral ; emptii glumes 

 extremelij minute, the lower obsolete, the upper truncate ; awn once or twice 

 longer than the flowering glume. — Dry hills and woods, from S. New Eng 

 to Mich., Iowa, and southward. Aug., Sept. — Spikelets only 1" long. 



§ 2. TRICHOCHLOA. Panicle very loose and open, the long branches and 

 pedicels capillary ; leaves narrow, often convolute-bristle form. 



8. M. capillaris, Kunth. (Hair-Grass.) Culm simple, upright (2° 

 high) from a fibrous root ; panicle capillary, expanding (6 - 20' long, purple) ; 

 emptv glumes unequal, the lower mostly pointless, the upper more or less 

 bristle-pointed, one third or half the length of the long-awned flowering glume. 

 — Saudv soil, W. New Eng. to N. J., Ky., Mo., and southward. Sept. — 

 Pedicels 1-2' long, scarcely thicker than the awns, which are about 1' long. 



24. BRACHYELYTRUM, Beauv. (PI. 8.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, with a conspicuous filiform pedicel of an abortive sec- 

 ond flower about half its length, nearly terete, few, in a simple appressed ra- 

 cemed panicle. Lower glumes unequal, persistent, usually minute, or the 

 lower one almost obsolete. Flowering glume and palet chartaceo-herbaceous, 

 involute, enclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough Avith scat- 

 tered short bristles, the first 5-nerved, extended into a long straight awn, the 

 palet 2-pointed ; the awn-like sterile pedicel partly lodged in the groove on its 

 back. Stamens 2 ; anthers and stigmas very long. — Perennial, with simple 

 culms (1-3° high) from creeping rootstocks, downy sheaths, broad and fiat 

 lanceolate pointed leaves, and spikelets \' long without the awn. ( Name com- 

 posed of jSpaxi's, short, and e\vTpov, husk, from the minute glumes.) 



1. B. aristatum, Beauv. Rocky woods; common. June. — Var. En- 

 gelmAnni, Gray, is a western form, with the second glume awn-pointed, 

 nearly half the length of the flowering one. 



25. HELEOCHLOA, Host. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, crowded in a dense spike or spike-like panicle. Lower 

 glumes persistent, membranaceous, acute, ciliate-cariuate, awnless ; flowering 

 glume similar, a little longer, and a little exceeding the palet. Stamens 3. — 

 Low cespitose annuals ; spike often scarcely exserted from the upper sheath. 

 (Name from e\os, a meadow, and x^<^«. grass.) 



H. scikenoIdes, Host. Usually nearly prostrate and tufted ; leaves rather 

 rigid* tapering to a sharp point; spike oblong, thick, 7-20" long. (Crypsis 

 schoenoides. Lam.) — Waste places, N. J. to Del. (Nat. from Eu.) 



26. PHLEUM, L. Cat's-tail Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in a very dense cylindrical spike-like panicle. Lower 

 glumes persistent, membranaceous, folded-cariuate, sulitruncate, mucronate or 

 short -awned ; flowering glume hyaline, shorter, truncate. Stamens 3. Styles 

 distinct. — Perennials. (From 0Aewy, a Greek name for a kind of reed.) 



