602 
GRAMINEjE. (grass family.) 
olate, keeled, sharp-pointed, very unequal. Pale® membrana¬ 
ceous, slender ; the lower narrowly awl-shaped, thrice the length 
of the upper. Styles long. Grain free.—Tall and stout peren¬ 
nials, with numerous broad leaves, and a large terminal panicle. 
(3>paypm7?, growing in , or forming , hedges.) 
communis, Trin. Panicle loose, diffuse when old; 
spikelets 3-5-flovvered. (Arundo Phragmites, L.)— Edges of ponds 
and swamps, common northward. Aug., Sept. — Looks like Broom- 
corn at a distance, 6°-12? high : leaves 2' wide. 
3 7. TBITICUM, L. Wheat. 
Spikelets 3 - several-flowered, single at each joint, and placed 
with the side against the rachis. Glumes transverse, nearly equal 
and opposite, herbaceous, nerved. Lower palea very like the 
glumes, convex on the back, pointed or awned from the tip : the 
upper flattened, bristly-ciliate on the nerves, free or adherent to 
the groove of the gTain. Stamens 3. (The classical name, prob¬ 
ably from tritus, beaten or threshed.) — The true species are an¬ 
nuals, with the glumes ovate-oblong and ventricose-boat-shaped, as 
in the common Wheat (T. vulgare). The others are perennial, 
with nearly lanceolate acute or pointed glumes, and 2-ranked 
spikes; never furnishing bread-corn (AgropYron, G®rtn.) ; to 
which the following belong. 
1- JT. repens, L. (Couch-Grass. Quitch-Grass.) Boot- 
stock creeping extensively; spikelets 4-8-flowered; glumes 5-7- 
nerved, rachis rough on the angles; awn none , or never more than 
naif the length of the flower ; leaves flat 1 roughish or hairy above.— 
Naturalized and troublesome in fields, &c., multiplying rapidly by 
the creeping rootstocks, which are very tenacious of life : also wild 
northward. June-August. — Culm l°-2° high. 
^^ninuiH, L. (Awned Wheat-Grass.) No creeping 
rootstock; spikelets 4-5-flowered; glumes 3-nerved; rachis bristly 
on the edges ; awn longer than the smooth flower ; leaves flat, rough- 
ish on both sides. — Woods and banks, not rare: introduced. 
3. T. dasystachyum. Culm (l°-3° high, from a strong 
creeping rootstock) and narrow mostly involute leaves very smooth and 
glaucous; spikelets downy-hairy all over, whitish, 5 - 9 -flowered J 
glumes 5 - 7-nerved; rachis rough on the edges; awn sometimes 
about half the length of the flower, sometimes nearly wanting. (T- 
repens, var dasystachyum, Hook.) — Sandy shores of the north of 
Michigan, Dr. Pitcher , fyc. August. 
