Order 156— GRAMINE^E. 775 



6. A. elata Trim Taller Thin Grass. Culm erect, rigid, thin, simple, rather 

 stout, 2 — if high, leafy ; Ivs. broadly (1 — 2") linear, scabrous, flat, 6 — 8' long, tho 

 sheaths scarcely smooth; panicle purple, contracted, with long, whorled, erect- 

 spreading branches dense-flowered half their length; glumes lanceolate, 1|", tho 

 the upper a little longer thau the 5-veined pale. — Swamps, N. Jer. to Ga., Ala. and 

 Ky. (Jackson). — Jl., Aug. (T. elatum Ph. A. altissimum Tuckm.) 



5. SPOROB'OLUS Brown. Drop-seed Grass. (Gr. orropd, seed, 

 BdXXu, to cast.) — Spikelets 1-flowered; glumes 2, unequal, the lower 

 smaller ; fl. sessile ; palero 2, beardless, awnless, usually exceeding the 

 glumes, the upper 2-kecled; stam. 2 or 3; stig. plumous with simple 

 hairs ; caryopsis free, often with a loose pericarp, deciduous. — Touo-h, 

 wiry grasses with mostly rolled and rigid leaves and the panicles more 

 or Less contracted. 



5 Vilfa. Grain (caryopsis) linear-cylindric. Glumes subequal Nos. 1, 2 



§ SroROBOLUS. Grain oval or globous. some loose in the pericarp. <*) 



* Glumes very unequal, -one of them as long as the palea;. (a) 



a Panicle open and stalked, pyramidal >^ os _ a 4 



a Panicle sheathed at the base more or less >^os. 5 6 



* Glumes somewhat equal, both shorter than the palete. (b) 



b Panicle contracted and spike-like, sheathed or not "Nos. 7, 8 



b Panicle open and stalked, long and raceme-like. \os. 9 'l9 



1 S. Virginicus Beauv. Culms numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at 

 base, branched, about a foot long; lvs. somewhat 2-rowed, involute, rigid, erect 

 2 — 3' long, with smooth sheaths which are hairy at the throat and swollen with 

 the enclosed panicles ; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones 

 concealed; glumes nearly equal, nearly as long -as the subequal palece. — If Sandy 

 soils, Middle and S. States. — Sept., Oct. (Agrost. L.) 



2 S. vaginaeflorus Torn Culms simple, ascending, slender, forming tufts G — 12' 

 high ; lvs. involute-subulate, rather rigid, short (2—4') ; panicles contracted, spiko 

 form, lateral and terminal, mostly concealed in tho sheaths ; glumes about equal, 

 and equaling the subequal pales; caryopsis linear, a third shorter than the pales. — 

 (D Dry, gravelly fields, {J. S. more common W. and S. (Agr. Muil. Crypsis, Nutt.) 



3 S. heterolepis. Culm 1 — 2 f high, smooth; lvs. setaceous, somewhat convo- 

 lute, scabrous on the margins; lower sheaths pubescent, upper ones smooth ; paniclo 

 spreading, pyramidal few-flowered ; glumes purplish, very unlike, outer one subuli- 



form., inner one ovate, cuspidate, membranaceous in texture, 1-veined; pales ob- 

 long, obtuse, thin, a little shorter than the superior glume, the lower 1-veined, api- 

 culate, the upper 2-veined, shorter; sta. 3; anth. linear, reddish; fr. roundish, 

 smooth. — Conn, to Wise, not rare. Aug., Sept. (Vilfa, Gray.) 



4 S. junceus Mich. Glaucous; culm erect, 1 — 2fbigh, terete, slender; lvs. erect, 

 2 — 6" by 1", concave, convolute when dry, margin scabrous; sheaths much 

 rhorter than the intemodes; stip. short; pan. oblong-pyramidal, branches % r erti- 

 ■chlate, about in 6s; glumes purple, similar, lanceolate, acute, upper as long as tho 

 paleae, the lower twice shorter ; palea subequal ; anth. and sty. whitish. — U Penn. 

 to Flor. and La., in barrens. Aug. — Oct. 



5 S. cryptandrus Gray. Culm 2— 3f high; lvs. broadly (2") linear, flat; sheaths 

 bearded at the throat; panicle pyramidal, its base enclosed by the terminal sheath, 

 branches spreading, hairy in the axils; fls. bluish; pales subequal, as long as the 

 upper glume, twice longer than the lower. — Dry, sandy soils, W. and S. States, 

 rare northward. Aug. (Agr. & Vilfa cryptandra Torr.) 



6 S. asper Kunth. Bt. white, fibrous ; culm stout, glabrous, geniculate at base, 

 ' 2f high; lvs. rigid, involute, rough-edged, 2 — 8' by 1 — 3", tapering to a pungent 



point; branches with short leaves, barren, also ending in a long, pungent point; 

 sheaths ciliate at edge and bearing dense tufts of long, white hairs at top ; p»anicles 

 terminal and lateral, nearly enclosed in the long sheaths; spikelets blackish-green; 

 lower glume very short, upper a little longer than the pales ; fr. compressed, obo- 

 vate }/' in length. — 21 Ohio, (Sullivant) to I1L (Agrost. Mi. Vilfa, Beauv.) 



7 S. lorrgifdlius. Culms slender, tufted, 2 — 3f high, from long fibrous roots; 

 lvs. all involute, very long (1 — 3f), tapering to a long thread-like point; panicle 



