654: GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



fiowers (3-5) naked at base; awn straight, \-^ the length of the 7-nerved 

 glume. — N. Mich, and Isle Eovale, L. Superior. April, May. 



41. D A N T H b N I A, DC. Wild Oat-Grass. (PL 12.) 



Flowering glume (oblong or ovate, rounded-cylindraceous, 7 - 9-nerved) bear- 

 ing between the sharp-pointed or awn-like teeth of the tip an awn usually com- 

 posed of the 3 middle nerves, which is flattish and spirally twisting at base ; 

 otherwise nearly as in Avena. Empty glumes longer than the imbricated 

 floAvers. Ours perennials, 1-2° high, with narrow and soon involute leaveSj 

 hairy sheaths bearded at the throat, and a small simple panicle or raceme of 

 about 7-flowered spikelets. (Xamed for Dantlioine, a French botanist.) 



1. D. spicata, Beauv. (PI. 12, fig. 1-3.) Culms tufted, low.; leaves 

 short, very narrow; spikelets few, 3-5'' long, subspicate ; Jloicering glume 

 looselt/ hairy, its teeth short and pointless. — Dry and sterile or rocky soil. 



2. D. sericea, Nutt. Culms taller and not tufted (1 - 3° high) , terete ; 

 leaves larger, at least the sheaths silky-villous ; spikelets more numerous and 

 panicled, 6-9" long; Jloicering glume very silky -villous, tipped with slender 

 awn-pointed teeth. — Dry or moist sandy soil, southern Mass., X. J., and south- 

 ward ; rare. June. 



3. D. COmpressa, Aust. Culms slender, 2° high, somewhat compressed, 

 paler and subcaniculate on the narrower side ; leaves elongated, very narrow, 

 villous only at the summit of the sheath; spikelets 6-12, loosely panicled, 5" 

 long ; flowering glume loosely hairy or pubescent, the teeth very long-awned. 

 • — Dry banks ; Yt. (Pringle) ; E. Mass., N. Y., Penn., and mountains of N. C. 



42. C Y N O D O N, Richard. Bermuda or Scctch-Grass. (PI. 9.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, with a mere naked short-pedicelled rudiment of a sec- 

 ond flower, imbricate-spiked on one side of a flattish rhachis ; the spikes usually 

 digitate at the naked summit of the flowering culms. Empty glumes keeled, 

 pointless, rather unequal ; flowering glume and palet pointless and awuless, 

 the glume larger, boat-shaped. Stamens 3. — Low diffusely branched and 

 extensively creeping perennials, with short flattish leaves. (Xame composed 

 of Kvwv, a dog, and oSovs, a tooth.) 



C. Dactylox, Pers. Spikes 3-5; flowering glume smooth, longer than 

 the blunt rudiment. — Penn., and southward, where it is cultivated for pas- 

 turage. (Nat. from Eu.) 



43. CTENIUM, Panzer. Toothache-Grass. (PI. 9.) 



Spikelets densely imbricated in two rows on one side of the flat curved rlia 

 chis of the solitary terminal spike. Glumes persistent ; the lower (interior) 

 much smaller ; the other concave below, bearing a stout recurved awn, like a 

 horn, on the middle of the back. Elowers 4-6, all but one neutral ; the one 

 or two lower consisting of empty awned glumes, and the one or two uppermost 

 of empty awnless glumes ; the perfect flower intermediate, its glume membra- 

 naceous, awned or mucronate below the apex and densely ciliate toward the 

 base, 3-nerved. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. {^?^w\q kt^viov, a small comb, 

 from the pectinate appearance of the spike.) 



1. C. AmericanTim, Spreng. Culm (3 -4° high from a perennial root) 

 simple, pubescent or roughish ; larger glume warty-glandular outside, con^ 

 spicuously aAvned. — Wet pine-barrens, S. Va. and southward. — Taste verj 

 pungent. 



