Order 156.— GRAMINE^E. 795 



glumo about as long but very much narrower than the obovate, obtuse, puberu- 

 leut upper one ; pules scarious at summit, a little exserted. — Penn. (Jackson) 

 to Wis. (Lapham), and S. States. Jn., Jl. (Aira, Mx. A. truncata MuliL Kce- 

 leria Torr., and Ed. 1. R. paniculata Nutt. Reboulea, Kunth. E. purpuras- 

 cens Raf.) 

 1 E. Pennsylvanica Gray. Erect, tufted, minutely puberulent, usually about 

 2f high ; Itb. flat, short, 1 to 3' by 2\" ; pan. slender, open, usually with diverg- 

 ing branches, and 5 to 10' long; spilcelets rather loose, \\" long; upper glumo 

 abruptly short-pointed ; pales acutish, exserted half their length. — Rocky wooda 

 and meadows, U. S. and Can., frequent but not abundant. The larger varieties 

 are very elegant. Jn., Jl. (Aira mollis Muhl. Kceleria DC. Reboulea, Kunth 

 Gray.) 



38. MEl/ICA, L. Melic Grass. (Lat, mel, honey.) Glumes 2, 

 unequal, membranous, obtuse, 2 to 5-flowercd ; flowers a little longer 

 than the glumes, the upper incomplete and more or less contorted; 

 pales truncate, veiny, as well as the glumes ; caryopsis free, not fur- 

 rowed. — Lvs. flat. Spikelets pedicellate, in a subsimple panicle. 



M. mutica Walt. Culm 3 — 4f high, glabrous ; lvs. linear, flat, pubescent beneath ; 

 stip. lacerate; panicle glabrous, loose, few-flowered, erect or a little noddin"- 

 branches simple, solitary; spikelets G — 8" long; lower glume shorter, very 

 smooth; paleaj veined; upper 11. neuter, pedicellate, consisting of very short, 

 roundish pales often twisted together. — % Rich upland soil, Penn. to Wis. and S. 

 States. Varies, with a panicle reduced to a mere raceme. Jn. (M. glabra Mx. 

 M. speciosa Muhl.) 



39. ERAGROS'TIS, Beauv. Spikelets 5 to oo(rarely fewer)-flowercd, 

 compressed ; glumes and fls. membranous; lower pale carinate, 3-veined, 

 not webbed, upper pale persistent on the flexuous rachis after the free 

 caiyopsis has fallen with the lower. — Hairy or roughish grasses with 

 involute lvs., sheaths at throat and axil of branches often bristly and fls. 

 in panicles, the branches mostly scattered. (Poa, L.) 



§ Spikelets few-flowered (fls. 2 to 4, rarely more) Nos. 10, 9, 3 



§ Spikelets many-flowered (^fls. o to 30). (b) 



b Panicle diffuse, capillary, longer than the rest of the culm Nos. 7, C, 5 



b Panicle contracted, rather dense. — Culms decumbent below Nos. 4, 3, 2 



— Culms procumbent, creeping .'No. 1 



1 E. reptans Nees. Culm branched, creeping, rooting at the joint3, G — 12' ; lvs. 

 subulate, flat, 2 — 3' long ; sheaths open, pilous on the margin and throat ; pan. 

 1 — 2' long, branches short, simple, in fascicles, few-flowered ; spikelets linear- 

 lanceolate, with 12 — 20 acuminato flowers. — (1) On sandy banks of rivers, N. Y. 

 to Ky. and La. Jl., Aug. — The plant is somewhat dioecious. 



2 B. poaeoides Beauv. Culm oblique or decumbent, geniculate, 1 — 2f long ; 

 lvs. lanceolate, attenuate at end, scabrous on the margin and above ; sheaths 

 pilous at the throat ; stip. short, bearded ; panicle expanding, branches subdivided, 

 flexuous, subpilous in the axils ; spikelets ovate-oblong + 12 — 20-flowered; glume3 

 nearly equal. — ® A fine-looking grass, fields and waste grounds, common. JL, 

 Aug. g Eur. It has a strong, peculiar odor. Varies much ; the later growths 

 are in more dense tufts, with smaller spikelets. (E. megastachya Lk. P. Era- 

 grostis L.) 



3 E. pilosa L. Cuims in tufts, geniculate, ascending, G to 12'; lvs. narrow-linear, 

 or subulate, short; sheaths slightly bearded at the throat; pan. oblong, some of 

 the middle branches opposite ; spikelets linear, bluish, about as long (3 to 4") as 

 the pedicels, G to 12-flowered, the rachis at length becoming pectinate or serrulate 

 with the persistent upper pales. — CD In sandy or gravelly waste places, Conn, 

 to Ga. and W. States. Jl., Aug. § Eur. (E. pectinacea Mx., a more appropriate 

 name, as the plant is scarcely pilous.) 



4 E. conferta Triu. Calm rather stout, geniculate below, branched, 2 to 3/; Irs. 

 broad-lanceolate, rough, flat, and sheaths naked; pan. long (5 to 12), narrow, 

 branches and branehlets very numerous, suberect, each racemous with the small, 



