GRASS FAMILY. 157 
32. POLYPOGON Desf. Fl. Atl. 1: 66. 1708. 
Mostly annual grasses, with decumbent or rarely erect culms, flat leaves and spike-like 
panicles. Spikelets 1-flowered; scales 3; the 2 outer empty, each extended into an awn; third 
scale smaller, generally hyaline, short-awned from below the apex, subtending a palet and 
perfect flower; palet shorter than the scale. Stamens 1-3. Styles short, distinct. Stigmas 
plumose. Grain free, enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, in allusion to the many long 
awns which resemble a beard. ] 
About ro species, widely distributed in temperate and warm regions, rare in the tropics. 
1. Polypogon Monspeliénsis (I,.) Desf. Beard-grass. (Fig. 358.) 
Alopecurus Monspeliensis I, Sp. Pl. 89. 1753. 
Polypogon Monspeliensis Desf. Fl. Atl. 1: 67. 
1795. 
Culms 2° tall or less, erect from a usually de- 
cumbent base, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 
generally shorter than the internodes, loose, 
sometimes slightly scabrous; ligule 114//-4// 
i long; leaves 134/-6’ long, 114’/-3/’ wide, sca- 
| brous, especially above; panicle 1/-4/ in length, 
dense and spike-like, the branches 14’ in length, 
ascending ; spikelets crowded; outer scales 
about 1’ long, obtuse, slightly bifid, scabrous, 
bearing a more or less bent awn 2//-3/’ long; 
third scale much shorter, erose-truncate, hya- 
\ line, bearing a delicate awn about \%/’ long, 
V inserted below the apex. 
— In waste places, New Hampshire to South Caro- 
lina, mostly near the coast. Very abundant in 
western North America, from British Columbia to 
i, Mexico. Naturalized from Europe. Native also 
of Asia. July—Sept. 
23° ARCTAGROSTIS Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 434. 1853. 
A perennial grass with flat leaves and contracted panicle. Spikelets 1-flowered. Scales 
3; the 2 outer empty, unequal, somewhat acute, membranous; the third scale exceeding 
the second, subtending a palet and perfect flower, obtuse; palet obtuse, 2-nerved. Stamens 
2 or 3. Styles distinct, short. Stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free, enclosed in the scale 
and palet. Seed adherent tothe pericarp. [Latin, signifying an arctic dgvostis-like grass. ] 
A monotypic genus of arctic and subarctic regions. 
1. Arctagrostis latifolia (R. Br.) Griseb. 
Arctagrostis. (Fig. 359.) 
Colpodium latifolium R. Br. Suppl. App. Parry’s 
Voy. 286. 1824. 
Arctagrostis latifolia Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 
434. 1853. 
Culms 6/’—2° tall, erect, or sometimes decumbent 
at the base, simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 
shorter than the internodes; ligule 2/’’ long, trun- 
cate; leaves 1/—7’ long, 1’’—4’’ wide, usually erect, 
scabrous; panicle 1 !4’-8/ long, narrow, its branches 
¥4/-2’/ in length, ascending or erect; spikelets 
1%4//-2” long; outer scales unequal, acutish, the 
lower about two-thirds to three-fourths the length 
of the upper; third scale obtuse, exceeding the 
second, hispid on the keel. 
Greenland to Hudson Bay and Alaska. Also in 
arctic Europe and Asia. Summer. 
