YOG Order 156.— GRAMINEJS. 



numerous spikeltts which are 1 to 11-flowered and only \\" long; pales hyaline, 

 ovate, pointed, 3-veincd. — (J) Car. to Ga, and La. (Poa conferta Ell.) The 2 pales 

 101 together. 



5 E. nitida. Culm erect, glabrous and polished as well as tlie whole plant, 12 to 

 20'. Lvs. long, linear, involute when dry, with a few hairs at top of sheath ; 

 pan. diffuse, much longer than the culm ; spikelets lanceolate, about 8-flowered, 

 hyaline glumes and pales sharply serrulate on the keel. — (D S. Car. and adjacent 

 islands. Jn. — Aug. (Poa nitida Ell.) 



6 E. hirsuta. Culm subsimple, compressed, erect, 1 — 2f; lvs. lance-linear, attenu- 

 ate at end, surpassing the stem, hairy at base ; sheaths loose, longer than the inter- 

 nodes, lower ones hairy, upper ones smooth ; stip. fringed ; panicle very large, 

 capillary, branches spreading, reflexed in fruit, hirsute in the axils ; spikelets olj- 

 long, 2 to 3", purplish, 5 to 16-flowered, long pedicelled; pale ovate, acute, dis- 

 tinctly 3-veined, upper ciliate. — IT. Sandy fields, U. S. JL, Aug. The rachis 

 never (?) becomes peculate. (Poa hirsuta Mx.) — Varies with the lvs. and sheaths 

 nearly smooth and spikelets larger (P. spectabilis Ph.) Also with the whole pani- 

 cle, except the spikelets, hirsute like the axils. And thirdly, with the spikelets 

 racemously appressed along the branchlets (P. refracta Ell.) 



7 E. Purshii Schrad. Culm decumbent at base, ascending 6 to 12 or 20' ; lvs. 

 subulate, 1 to 3' long, upper surface rough ; sheaths very hairy at throat ; pan. 

 long and loose, the lower branches, or all, hairy in their axils ; ped. capillary, 

 longer than tho spikelets which aro lance-oblong; 5 to 12-flowered; pales merely 

 acuto, purplish. — (J) Drv fields, Md. to Ga., common. ' JX, Aug. (P. tenella ? Pli. 

 Ell.) 



8 E. capillaris Nees. Culm branched at base, smooth, 1 to 2f ; lvs. linear, at* 

 tenuated above, flat, smooth ; sheaths striate, with long hairs about tho throat 

 and margin ; stip. short: pan. very large (near a foot long) with diffusely spread- 

 ing, capillary branches, axils not bearded, or tho lower slightly ; spikelets ovate, 

 acute, about 3-flowered, on rather rigid, long, capillary pedicels ; pales scabrous, 

 -|" long, acute, the 2 side veins scarcely visible. — Dry grounds, U. S. Aug. 



9 E. trichodes. Culm simple, 12 to 20', erect; lvs. long (10 to 18"), rough, 

 thinly hairy, as well as tho sheaths, throat with long hairs ; pan. rather longer than 

 culm, narrow, capillary, only the lower axils bearded ; spikelets not colored, 2 to 

 5 (mostly 3)-nowered ; pales and gls. hyaline, distinctly Z-veMed, lanceolate, 1J'' 

 long. — if Sandy soils, S. and W. States. (P. trichodes Nutt. P. tenuis Ell.) 



10 E. erythrogona Nees. Culms very branching, in tufts, ascending 3 to 10'; 

 joints a narrow red ring ; lvs. narrow, convolute when dry, the upper about equal- 

 ing the oblong, rather dense panicle; spikelets 2 to 5 (mostly 3)-flowered, 1 to i|" 

 long, bluish ; gls. lanceolate ; pedes ovate, all acute and nearly veinless. — CO Waste 

 and cultivated grounds, Penn. (Jackson) to 111. and South. "Whole plant bluish. 



40. P0 x A, L. Spear Grass. Meadow Grass. (Gr. 7:6a, grass.) 

 Spikelets 2 to 5 (rarely 0)-flowered, compressed ; glumes subequal, point- 

 less, shorter than the contiguous flowers ; pales herbaceous, soft-awnless, 

 the lower compressed-carinate, 5-veined, usually clothed on the veins 

 below with a cobweb-like, matted wool, the upper pale bicarinate ; stig- 

 mas simply plumous; caryopsis free. — Smooth grasses with soft flat lvs., 

 the fls. paniculate. 



1i Branches of the panicle In 2s, 3s, or often single. (*) 



* Flowers not webbed, merely pubescent on the back, (a) 



a Annual. Panicle dense with subsessile spikelets No. 1 



a Perennial. Panicle loose, spikelets long-pedicellate Nos. 2, 3 



■ Flowers webbed.— Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, 2". Pau. very slender No. 4 



—Spikelets mostly 2-flowcred,— ■ many, panicle diffuse Nos. 5, (i 



— few (4 to S). Mountains No. 7 



— Spikelets mostly 5-flowered, ovate, short-pedicelled Nos. H, 9 



T Branches of tho panicle in about 5s, half-whorled. (b) 



b Spikelets 2 to 4-tlowered, — obtuse, pedicellate, loose No. 1(V 



— acute, pedicellate, very loose Nos. 11, ffl 



b Spikelets 8 to 5-flowercd, subsessile in rather dense panicles Xos. 18, U 



1 P. annua L. Annual Spear Grass. Culms decumbent and rooting- at the 



