OftAMiNEiE. (grass family.) 665 



* * * * Taller (1 -3°) meadow or woodland grasses ; panicle open. 

 *■- Spikelcts mostli/ verij numerous and croivded on the rather short rough branches 

 {usuallij in Jives) of the oblong or pyrainidal panicle, green, or sometimes 

 violet-tinged ; /lowers acute, crowded, more or less webbed at base. 



4. P. serotina, Ehrhart. (False Red-top. Fowl Meadow-Grass.^ 

 Culms tufted without running rootstocks ; leaves narrowly linear, soft and 

 smooth; ligules elongated ; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (1 -2" long), all 

 short-pedicelled in an elongated panicle, often tinged with dull purple ; flowers 

 and glumes narrow ; /lowering glume verg obscnrehj nerved. — Wet meadows 

 and low banks of streams; common, especially northward. July, Aug. — A 

 good grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



5. P. pratensis, L. (June Grass. Spear Grass. Kentucky Blue 



Grass.) Culms sending off copious running rootstocks from the base, and the 



sheaths smooth ; ligule short and blunt ; panicle short-pyramidal ; spikelets 3-5- 



flowered, crowded, and mostly almost sessile on the branches, ovate-lanceolate or 



ovate ; /lowering glume b-nerved, hairy on the margins as well as keel. — Common 



in dry soil ; imported for pastures and meadows. Indigenous in mountain rfe- 



gions from X. Penn. to New Eng., and northward. May- July. (Eu.) 



P. triviAlis, L. (RouGHisH Meadow-Grass.) Culms erect from a soma 

 what decumbent base, but no distinct running rootstocks ; sheatlis and leaver 

 more or less rough : ligule oblong, acute ; panicle longer or with the branches 

 more distant; spikelets mostly 3-flowered, broader upward; flowering glume 

 prominently 5-nerved, naked at the margins : otherwise nearly as in the preced- 

 ing. — Moist meadows, etc. July. (Xat. from Eu.) 



■)- -i- Spikelets /ewer and more scattered, on slender pedicels; plants soft and 

 smooth, /lowering early. (No running rootstocks, except in n. 10.) 



•w- Spikelets small (1 -2" long), pale green, rather loosely 2- A/lowered ; /lowers 

 oblong, obtuse ; flowering glume scarcely scarious-tipped ; culm-leaves lance- 

 linear, acute, 1-3' long. 



6. P. sylvestris, Gray. Culru /lattish, erect ; branches of the oblong- 

 pyramidal panicle snort, numerous, in fives or more ; /lowering glumes villous 

 on the keel its whole length, and on the margins below the middle, sparingly 

 webbed at base. — Rocky woods and meadows, western N. Y. to Wise, Kan., 

 and southward. June. 



7. P. debilis, Torr. Cidms terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 few and slender (the lower H-2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes ; 

 /lowers very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at base. — Rocky 

 woodlands, R. I. to Penn. and Wise. May. 



:=+ ++ Spikelets 1" long, light green ; oblong-lanceolate /lowers and glumes acute. 



8. P. alsodes, Gray. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the upper- 

 most (2|-4' long) often sheathing the base of the narrow and loose panicle, 

 the capillary branches appressed when young, mostly in threes or fours ; flow- 

 ering glume very obscurely nerved, villous on the keel below, and with a narrow 

 cobwebby tuft at base, otherwise glabrous. — Woods, on hillsides, N. Eng. to 

 Penn. and Va., west to Wise. May, June. 



•^ ++ ++ Spikelets larger (3-4" long), pale green, rarely purple-tinged, feiv and 

 scattered at the ends o/ the long capillary branches (mostly in pairs or 

 threes) o/the very diffuse panicle ; /lowers 3-6, Iqpse, oblong and obtuse, as 



