660 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



* * Glume narrower, sometimes acutish ; panicle more loose and slender. 



2. E. Pennsylvaniea, Gray. Leaves mostly 3 - 6' long ; panicle long 

 and slender, loose, the racemose branches lax and somewhat elongated ; 

 glumes thin and broadly scarious, the lowest half the length of the flower, 

 very narrow, the upper obtuse or bluntly somewhat pointed; the 2 (rarely 3) 

 flowers lanceolate, with pointed glumes. — Varies, with a fuller panicle, 6-8' 

 long, with the aspect of Cinna (var. mXjor, Torr.) ; and, rarely, with the lower 

 palet minutely mucronate-pointed ! — Moist woods and meadows; common. 



3. E. Dudleyi, Vasey. Culms very slender; leaves shorter, 1-2' long; 

 panicle very slender, the branches few, short and mostly appressed ; empty 

 glumes nearly equal, the lower oblong, the upper broadly elliptical, apiculate ; 

 flowering glumes shorter than in n. 2, acutish. — Long Island to central N. Y., 

 south to 8. C. 



57. E R A G R d S T I S, Beauv. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 70-flowered, nearly as in Poa, except that the flowering glume 

 is but 3- (rarelv 1-) nerved, not webby-haired at the base, and is deciduous; 

 palet persistent on the rhachis after the rest of the flower has fallen. — Culms 

 often branching. Leaves linear, frequently involute, and the ligule or throat 

 of the sheath bearded with long villous hairs. Panicle various. (Name from 

 ^p, spring, and &ypoa-Ti5, a grass.) 



* Prostrate and creeping, much branched; root annual; spikelets Jlat,imper- 

 fecthf diwcious, clustered, almost sessile, in the more fertile plant almost capitate. 



1. E. reptans, Nees. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 10-30-flowered; flow- 

 ers lance-ovate, acute ; leaves short, almost awl-shaped. — Gravelly river- 

 borders ; common. Aug. — Flowering branches 2-5' high. 



* * Diffusely spreading, or the flowering culms ascending, low (6-15' high), 



annual ; spikelets often large, flat, forming a narrow crowded panicle. 



E. MINOR, Host. Sheaths often hairy; leaves flat, smooth; spikelets short- 

 pedicelled, lance- or oblong-linear, 8-20-flowered, lead-colored (2-5" long); 

 flowers ovate, obtuse, the lateral nerves becoming evident, and keel smooth. 

 ( E. poeeoides, Beauv.) — Sandy waste places, eastward ; rare. (Nat. from Eu.) 



E. MAJOR, Host. Sheaths mostly glabrous ; spikelets larger (3 - 10" long), 

 becoming linear, whitish when old,'lO-50-flowered ; flowers more spreading, 

 their glumes larger, with very strong lateral nerves and rough on the keel. 

 (E. poc^oides, var. megastachya, Gran.) — Similar situations, and more com- 

 mon. Aug. — Emits a sharp', unpleasant odor. (Nat. from Eu.) 



-* * * Erect, or in group -t- diffuselg spreading and ascending ; panicle open, 

 its branches capillary ; spikelets proportionall i/ small, sometimes minute. 

 [Number of flowers in the spikelet veri/ variable, according to age, etc.) 



-i- Annual ; culms slender, branching and decumbent or spreading at base ; leaves 

 narrow, flat, soft; branches of the narrow panicle rather short and thickly- 

 flowered, not bearded in the axils, or sometimes the lowest sparingli/. 



E. pil6sa, Beauv. (PI. 10, fig. 1-4.) Panicle elongated-oblong, with 

 rather erect branches (except at flowering-time) ; spikelets 5-12-flowered (2- 

 4" long, purplish-lead-color), becoming linear, about equalling their pedicels ; 

 empti/ qlumes (small) and flowering ones obtuse, the latter broadly ovate, l-nerred 

 ■ ■ ■■ . , , ^ V 11 ^- 1 L^- Xew I^ng. to 111., 



(lateral nerves ot»solete). — Sandy or gravelly waste places, S. 

 and southward. Aug. — Plant 6'- 12' high. (Nat. from V.u. 



