PLANTS OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. 215 



This is the Wild Rice which covers the broad marshes of the 

 Delaware as well as those of Newark and Hackensack, associated 

 with Cat-tails, Spartina and Phragmites. By the latter part of 

 July it is in full flower, and the drooping sprays of staminate 

 flowers and broad green leaves remind one of a field of narrow 

 leaved corn. In September it has become the shelter of thousands 

 of reed birds and rail, and the gunners soon begin to beat 

 and trample it down in pursuit of their game. The storms of 

 autumn complete the work and by winter the acres of swaying 

 and fluttering foliage are reduced to a dense brown mat which 

 covers the marsh, and through which, in the following spring, the 

 tender gTcen sprouts of the next year's crop push their way and 

 once again give color to the meadows. 



The Rice sometimes follows the course of small streams for 

 many miles back from the rivers or coast. I have found it on 

 Cooper's Creek, twelve miles from its mouth, while it follows the 

 larger streams as far as the head of tidewater. Very often a dam 

 makes a sharp line of demarkation between the tidewater and 

 Pine Barren floras, as at Toms River, Batsto, Mays Landing, 

 Millville. etc., and checks abruptly the range of the Wild Rice. 



Fl. — Mid-July through August, spikelets soon dropping. 



Middle District.— New Egypt, Pemberton (NB), Fish House. Oaklyn (S), 

 Mickleton, Swedesboro, Salem (S). 



Coast Strip.— Metedeconk River (NY), Toms River (S), Forked River, 

 Weekstown, Forks of Batsto, Mays Landing. 



Cape May.— Cold Spring (OHB), New England Creek (OHB). 



HOMALOCENCHRUS Mieg. 



a. Spikelets 2.5-3 rnm. long, greenish, panicle branches rigid. 



H. virginictts, ?■ 215 

 aa. Spikelets 4-5 mm. long, whitish, panicle branches drooping. 



H. orysoides, p. 216 



Homalocenchrus virginicus (Willd.). White Grass. 



Leersia virginica Willdenow, Sp. PI. i. 325. 1797 [North America]. — Barton, 



Fl. Phil. I. 41. 1818. — Knieskern 27- 

 Hoiitalocenclinis virginica Britton 283. — Keller and Brown 39. 



Common in damp shady spots in the Middle and Cape May 

 districts. 



Fl. — Late July to early September, spikelets of exserted 

 panicles soon dropping. 



