600 
GRAMINEiE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 
34. BROTHS, L. Brome-Grass. 
Spikelets 5-many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, mem¬ 
branaceous, the lower 1 -5-, the upper 3 - 9-nerved. Lower pa- 
lea convex on the back or slightly keeled, about 7-nerved at the 
base, awned or bristle-pointed from below the mostly 2-cleft tip, 
the awn usually founded on the 3 middle nerves : upper palea at 
length adhering to the groove of the oblong or linear grain. Sta¬ 
mens 3. — Coarse grasses, with large spikelets, at length droop¬ 
ing, on pedicels thickened at the apex. (An ancient name for the 
Oat, from /9 po/ios, food.) 
* Indigenous species. 
1. IS. ciliatus, L. Panicle compound , very loose, the elongat¬ 
ed branches at length divergent, drooping; spikelets 7 - 12-flowered; 
oiecr glume l-nerved, the upper 3- nerved (sometimes awn-pointed); 
flowers oblong-lanceolate, tipped with an axon half to three fourths 
t etr ength, upper palea bristly-ciliate ; the lower silky with appress- 
lairs near the margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or 
smoothish on the back (B. Canadensis, Michx. B. pubescens, Muhlf,- 
0r, | 1I fi Var Pl ^ RGANS (®* P ur gans, £»./), clothed all over with very short 
an ine appressed hairs. —River-banks and moist woodlands. 
July, Aug.-Culm 3®-4° high, with the large leaves ft'-J'wide) 
smooth or somewhat hairy; the sheaths in the larger forms often hairy 
or ease } downy near the top. — Variable as to the pubescence, See., 
clearly including both the Linnaean species; for which I choose the 
present name instead of the inapplicable purgans, which was taken 
from Feuille’s South American species. 
2. B. Kalinii. Panicle simple , small (3'-4' long), the spike- 
lets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7-12-flowered, densely 
5i y all over with rather long and spreading hairs; loxcer glume 
strongly 3 nerved, the upper 5-; nerved ; awn only one-third the length of 
the lanceolate-oblong flower; culm slender high); leaves 
and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy, u (B. ciliatus, Mukl. 
B. purgans, Torr. FI. JV. Y.) — Dry woodlands and open places. June, 
July.—This is preserved in the herbarium of Linnams under the 
name of B. ciliatus, though it is not the plant he has described; 
thence has arisen much confusion. 
* * ^ n f°duced and partially naturalized species. 
3. B. secallnus, L. (Cheat or Chess.) Panicle spreading, 
the drooping peduncles but little branched; spikelets oblong-ovate, tur¬ 
gid, smooth , of 8-10 flowers not overlapping each other, mostly long¬ 
er than the awn; lower glume 5-nerved; upper 7-nerved. ©- 
Grain-fields, &c., too common. June. 
