198 GRAMINEAE. 
3- Uniola paniculata L. Sea Oats. (Fig. 453.) 
Uniola paniculata I,. Sp. Pl. 71. 1753. 
Glabrous thoroughout, culms 3°-8° tall, 
erect, simple, smooth. Sheaths often longer 
than the internodes; ligule a ring of hairs 
about %’’ long; leaves 1° long or more, about 
\%{’ wide, involute when dry, attenuate into a 
long slender tip; panicle 9’-1° in length or 
more, the branches erect or ascending, strict, 
rigid, the lower 214/-5’ long; spikelets many- 
flowered, short-pedicelled, ovate to oval when 
mature, 14’-1’ long; lower scales much shorter 
than the flowering ones, which are 4//-5/’ 
long and scabrous on the keels; stamens 3. 
In sands of the seacoast, Virginia to Florida 
and west to Texas. Also in the West Indies and 
South America. Spikelets persistent into the 
winter. Oct.—Nov. 
73- DISTICHLIS Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 104. ‘1819. 
Dioecious grasses, with rigid culms creeping or decumbent at the base, flat or convo- 
lute leaves and spike-like paniculate inflorescence. Spikelets flattened, more numerous on 
the staminate plants than on the pistillate, 6-16-flowered; rachilla continuous in the stam- 
inate spikelets, articulated in the pistillate. Two lower scales empty, narrow, keeled, acute, 
shorter than the flowering ones; flowering scales broader, many-nerved, acute, rigid; palets 
2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles thickened at the base, rather long, distinct. Stigmas 
long-plumose. Grain free, enclosed in thescale and palet. [Greek, signifying two-ranked, 
probably in reference to the spikelets. ] 
Four known species, natives of America, inhabiting the sea coast or alkaline soil; one of them 
is also found in Australia. 
1. Distichlis spicata (I,.) Greene. Marsh Spike-grass. (Fig. 454.) 
Uniola spicata Y,. Sp. Pl. 71. 1753- , \ 
Distichlis maritima Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 104. _ 1819. 
Uniola stricta Torr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 1: 155. 1824. hy 
Distichlis spicata Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2: 415. . \V 
1887. \ 
Distichlis spicata var. stricta Scribn. Mem. Torr. y 
Club, 5:51. 1894. i 
\ VY 
Glabrous throughout, culms 3/-2° tall, erect \ Y 
from a horizontal rootstock, or often decumbent at NV/ 
( 
the base. Sheaths overlapping and often crowded; N vf 
ligule a ring of very short hairs; leaves %4/-6’ long, \ i 
1//-2’’ wide, flat or involute; panicle dense and Yi 
spike-like, 3(/-21%4’ in length, the branches 1/ \W 
SS 
aw 
S 
~~ 
179 
long or less, erect; spikelets 6-16-flowered, 4’/-9’’ Y iy 
SNS 
long, pale green; empty scales acute, the first 1-3- 
nerved, two-thirds as long as the 3-5-nerved 
second one; flowering scales 114’/-2%4’’ long, 
acute or acuminate. 
On salt meadows along the Atlantic coast from 
Maine to Florida, in saline soil throughout the inte- 3 
rior, and on the Pacific coast north toBritish Columbia. 74 
The main figure is that of the staminate plant. June- 
Aug. 
