98 GRAMINEAE. 
1. Tripsacum dactyloides I. Gama 
Grass. (Fig. 210.) 
Coix dactyloides I,. Sp. Pl. 972. _1753- 
Tripsacum dactyloides 1,. Sp. Pl, Ed. 2, 1378. 1763. 
Tripsacum dactyloides var. monostachyum A. Gray, 
Man. 616. 1848. 
Rootstock 4’-1’ thick, culms stout, erect, 4°-5° 
tall. Leaves smooth and glabrous, 1° or more 
long, 14’-114’ wide, long-acuminate, truncate or 
subcordate at the base ; spikes terminal and in the 
upper axils, solitary or 2-3 together, 4’-9’ long, 
the lower spikelets pistillate, the upper staminate 
and very numerous; outer scales of the staminate 
spikelets linear and obtuse, 4’’ long, about 1// 
wide, faintly many-nerved; exterior scale of the 
pistillate spikelets horny, shining, closely appressed 
in fruit. 
In swamps or along streams, Connecticut to Florida, 
Texas and Mexico, north to Illinois, Missouri and 
Kansas. Also in South America. One of our largest 
grasses, sometimes used for fodder. June-Sept. 
2. ERIANTHUS Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 54. 1803. 
Tall generally robust perennial grasses, with thick creeping rootstocks, long flat leaves, 
and perfect flowers in terminal panicles. Spikelets generally with a ring of hairs at the 
base, 2 at each node of the jointed rachis, one sessile, the other with a pedicel, generally 
1-flowered. Scales 4, the two outer indurated, the inner hyaline, the fourth bearing a terminal 
straight or contorted awn ; palet small, hyaline; stamens 3. Grain oblong, free, enclosed in 
the scales. [Greek, referring to the woolly spikelets. ] 
About 17 species, natives of the temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. Besides 
the following, two others occur in the Southern States. 
Awn spiral. 1. E. alopecuroides. 
Awn straight. 
Panicle lax; branches long and spreading; basal hairs longer than the outer scale of the 
spikelet. 2. E. saccharoides. 
Panicle compact or strict; branches short and erect or appressed; basal hairs equalling or 
shorter than the outer scale of the spikelet. 
Outer scale about 2's’' long. 3. E. compactus. 
Outer seale about 4’’ long. 4. E. brevibarbis. 
1. Erianthus alopecuroides (L.) Ell. Spiral-awned Beard-grass. (Fig. 211.) 
Andropogon alopecuroides 1. Sp. Pl. 1045. _1753- 
Erianthus alopecuroides Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga, 1: 38. 
1816. In part. 
Culms stout, erect, 6°-10° tall; nodes naked or 
barbed, the summit and the axis of the panicle 
densely pubescent with appressed long rigid silky 
hairs Sheaths glabrous; leaves usually glabrous, 
6/-2° long, 14’-1’ wide, acuminate, narrowed and 
gs YUL sometimes hairy on the upper surface near the 
DR aa Ly Ls base; panicle oblong, 7’-12’ long, 2’—3’ wide, 
1A branches spreading, 3’-5’ long, slender, loose, in- 
ternodes about 2’’ long; outer scales of the spike- 
let about 3’ long, exceeding the pedicel and about 
two-thirds as long as the basal hairs, lanceolate, 
acuminate; inner scales shorter, the awn 6//-8’” 
’ long, scabrous, the portion included in the outer 
scales tightly spiral, bent at point of exsertion, and 
thence loosely spiral. 
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In damp soil, North Carolina to Kentucky and Missouri, south to Georgia and.Alabama. Com- 
parison with the original specimens of Linnaeus proves that the name alopecuroides belongs to 
this species. Sept. 
