591 
G RAMIN E AS. (GRASS FAMILY.) 
the sheaths often downy. (Named for Prof, Kohler , an early 
writer on Grasses.) 
1. Jfc. cristata, Pers. Panicle narrowly spiked, interrupted 
at the base; spikelets 2-4-flowered; lower palea acute, often mu- 
cronate pointed; leaves flat, the lower sparingly hairy or ciliate.— 
Dry grounds or hills, Penn, to Michigan, and westward : nearly the 
var. gracilis, with a long and narrow spike, the flowers usually 
barely acute. (K. mtida, Nutt.) — Sheaths smooth or downy. 
25. UEBOl'LEA, Kunth. (KtELERiA, sp., Torr.) 
Spikelets usually 2-flowered, and with an abortive rudiment or 
pedicel, in a contracted slender panicle. Glumes somewhat equal 
in length, but very dissimilar, rather shorter than the flowers ; the 
lower narrowly linear, keeled, 1-nerved ; the upper obovate, rather 
boat-shaped, 3-nerved on the back. Lower palea oblong, obtuse, 
boat-shaped, naked, chartaceous, minutely roughened at least 
when old ; the upper very thin and hyaline. Stamens 3. Grain 
linear-oblong, grooveless. — Perennial, slender grasses, with sim¬ 
ple and tufted culms, and often sparsely downy sheaths, and flat 
lower leaves ; the small greenish spikelets looking somewhat like 
those of Cinna or Poa. 
1. R. Pennsylvania. Panicle long and slender , rather 
loose , the racemose branches somewhat elongated; upper glume obo¬ 
vate, barely obtuse (often slightly mucronate) ; the 2 (rarely 3) flowers 
lanceolate. (Kceleria Pennsylvanica, DC. Aira mollis, Muhl.) — 
Varies, with a larger and fuller panicle, 6'-8' long, with the aspect 
of Cinna (var. major, Torr.) ; and, rarely, with the lower palea minute¬ 
ly mucronate-pointed! — Moist woods and meadows, common. June, 
July. 
2. R. obtlisata. Panicle dense and contracted , somewhat inter¬ 
rupted, the spikelets much crowded on the short erect branches; up¬ 
per glume rounded-obovate , truncate-obtuse , rough on the back, the 
flowers lanceolate-oblong. (R. gricilis, Kunth , in part. Aira obtusa- 
ta, Michx. A. truncata, Muhl. Kceleria truncate, Torr.) —Dry soil, 
not rare westward and southward. June. 
26.MELICA 9 L. Melic-Grass. 
Spikelets 2-5-floweTed; the 1-3 upper flowers imperfect and 
dissimilar, convolute around each other. Glumes usually large, 
chartaceous-membranaceous, scarious-margined, convex, obtuse, 
the upper 7-9-nerved. Palese of the same texture as the glumes; 
