Acrostis. CLX1 GRAMINEZ. 597 
larger, sometimes longer, often shorter than the palex; pales 2, 
unequal, lower one larger, awnless or awned, larger than the glumes, 
coating the caryopsis. 
§ 1. Glumes longer than the palee. 
1. A. vuLGARIs. Smith. (A. polymorpha. Gray.) Red-top. Bent Grass. 
St. erect, 1—2f high ; panicle spreading, with the branches finally divari- 
cate; lvs. linear-lanceolate, veined, scabrous, with smooth, striate sheaths, and 
short, truncate stipules; lower palea twice as large as the upper, and nearly as 
long as the lanceolate, acute glumes.—2| U.S. A common and very valuable 
grass, spread over hills, vales, and meadows, forming a soft, dense turf. Flow- 
ers very numerous, purplish. July. 
2. A. aLBA. (A. decumbens. Muhl.) White-top. Florin Grass. 
St. decumbent, geniculate, rooting at the lower joints, sending out stolons; 
Ws. linear-lanceolate, smooth, those of the stolons erect and subulate; sheaths 
smooth, with a long, membranaceous stipule; panicle dense, narrow, at length 
spreading, whitish, sometimes purplish; lower palea 5-veined, rarely awned.— 
@ N. Eng. to Ohio, in meadows, or in dry soils; hence its characters are vari- 
able, being often nearly erect. June. § : 
3. A. stricta. Willd. Bent Grass. 
St. erect, smooth, with black nodes; dvs. linear-lanceolate, scabrous on 
the margin, with cleft, white stipules; panicle elongated, strict, the branches 
about 5, flexuous, scabrous, erect; glumes equal, lanceolate; palee unequal, 
smaller than the glumes, with an awn at the base of the outer one twice longer 
than the flower.—2| Fields, N. Eng., N. Y. June. 
4. A. canina. Dog’s Bent Grass. 
St. prostrate, somewhat branched, rooting at the lower nodes, about 2f 
long ; panicle at length spreading, with angular, rough branches; glwmes elon- 
gated ; lower palee furnished with an incurved awn upon the beak twice its 
length.—2| Introduced and common in wet meadows. July. § 
5. A. Pickxerincu. Tuckm. -(A. canina, f. alpina. Oakes.) j 
St. erect; ls. flat, linear; pan. ovate, diffuse, branches verticillate, rather 
erect, scabrous; gi. subequal, keel of the lower mucronate at tip, upper acute, 
smoothish ; lower palee ovate-lanceolate, acute or erose, veined, upper ovate, 
veinless; awn from the middle of the back, contorted, twice longer than the 
fis— White Mts. 
B. rupicola. Tuckm. Smaller; pan. contracted, smoothish, often purplish._— 
Mountains, Vermont. 
§ 2. Vitra. Glumes not longer than the subequal, awnless palee. 
6. A. Vireinica. (Vilfa vaginiflora. Gray. 
Sts. numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at base, nearly simple, 
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 en. 
closed panicles ; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones con- 
cealed; glumes nearly equal, about as long as the subequal palee.—@ Sandy 
soils, Middle States. Sept., Oct. 
7. A. compressa. Torr. (Vilfa compressa. Tvinius.) Flat-stemmed 
Agrostis.—Glabrous ; st. erect, compressed, simple, leafy, branched at base, 
1—2f high; dvs. narrowly linear, compressed, scarcely shorter than the stem; 
keel prolonged into the open sheath; stip. very short; panicle purple, subsimple, 
contracted, the branches few and erect; glumes equal, acute, shorter than the 
palez, the upper emarginate, rarely mucronate; palee ovate, obtuse, smooth, 
sometimes deeply cleft; stig. purple.—Sandy swamps, N. J. Sept. 
8. A. sEroTina. Torr. (Vilfa serotina. ejusdem.) 
St. 12—18' high, filiform, compressed, growing in patches, smooth, often 
viviparous at the nodes; lvs. 2—3’ by 3”, keeled, smooth; sheaths open; stip. 
ovate, short; panicle 3—10’ long, capillary, diffuse, branches flexuous, alter- 
nate ; spikelets elliptical, scarcely 4’’ long ; glwme ovate, 1-veined, unequal, half 
a ae ay 
