204 EUlA'JTTHTTg. 



much va'tie where better could bejgrown. Grows on 

 moist soils near the coast, Kew England to Pennsyl- 

 vania and Illinois, and common in Louisania. 



64. ERIANTHUS. Woolly Beaed Grass. 



GEITEEIC CHAEACTEE. 



Spikelets spiked in pairs npon each joint of the 

 slender rhachis — one of them sessile, the other pedi- 

 celled — otherwi-se both alike, with the lower flower 

 neutral, of one membranaceous j)alet, the upper per- 

 fect, of 2 hyaline palets, which are thinner and shorter 

 than the nearly equal membranaceous glumes, the 

 palet awned from the tip ; stamens 1 to 3 ; grain free. 

 Tall and stout reed-like perennials, with the spikes 

 crowded in a panicle, and clothed with long, silky 

 hairs, especially in a tuft around the base of each 

 spikelet. 



Whence the name, from erion^ wool, and antTios^ 

 flower. 



1. E. Alopecuroides (Woolly Beard grass). 



SPECIFIC CHAEACTEE. 



Culm 4 to 6 feet high, woolly bearded at the joints; 

 panicle contracted, the silky hairs longer than the 

 spikelets, shorter than the awn ; stamens 2. 



Wet pine barrens, New Jersey and southward • 

 rare. Flowers in September and October, 



2. E. Brev'ibarbis (Short-awned Woolly Beard.) 



