186 dantiio:n'ia. — a vena. 



48. DANTHONIA— Be Candolle. Wild Oat 



J .- . ■ -"' V ■ r,.. Grass. 



GENEPwIC CHARACTER. 



Lower palet (oblong or ovate, rounded, cylindra- 

 ceous, 7 to 9-nerved) bearing between the sliarp- 

 pointed or awn-like teeth of the tip an awn composed 

 of the 3 middle nerves, which is flattish and spirally 

 twisting at the base, otherwise nearly as in Avena ; 

 glnmes longer than the imbricated flowers. Ours 

 perennials, 1 to 2 feet high, with narrow and soon 

 involute leaves, hairy sheaths bearded at the throat, 

 and a small, simple panicle or raceme of about 7-flow- 

 ered spikelets. 



Named from Danthoine, a French botanist. 



1. D. Spicata (Wild Oat grass. White Top, Old 

 Fog). Is common in dry, sunny pastures. Flowers 

 in June. 



2. D. Sericea (Taller Wild Oat Grass). Taller than 

 D. Spicata, and not tufted ; 1 to 3 feet high. Dry 

 or moist sandy soils. Southern Massachusetts, IS'ew 

 Jersey, and southward. Flowers in June. 



49. AYEXA-Linn. Oat. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets 2 to many -flowered, panicled, the flowers 

 herbaceo-chartaceouSjOr be coming harder, of flrmer 

 texture than the large and mostly unequal glumes. 



