380 



Bulletin No. 205 



[March, 



c. Spikelets on capillary pedicels which are at least 5 mm. long; plants 

 branched at the base; length and breadth of the panicle approxi- 

 mately equal. /i'. capillaris 

 cc. Spikelets borne on stiff pedicels which are less than 5 mm. long; 

 plants branched from above the base; panicles much longer than 

 broad. E. frankii 

 bb, Spikelets usually more than 5-flowered, 5 to 16 mm. long. 



c. Plants usually less than 18 inches tall, in dense tufts, often spread- 

 ing; panicles small, densely flowered, with short branches; annuals, 

 usually gray-green in color. 

 d. Spikelets 1.5 mm. or less in width, without glandular spots; 

 throat of sheath and bases of lower panicle branches densely 

 pubescent. -E. pilosa 



dd. Spikelets 2 to 3 mm. wide, the keels of the glumes and lemmas 

 and their pedicels with glandular spots; throat of sheath and 

 bases of lower panicle branches not densely pubescent. 



E. cilianen'sis 

 cc. Plants usually more than 18 inches tall; panicles large, loosely flow- 

 ered, purplish or yellowish; perennials, 

 d. Panicles purplish, a conspicuous tuft of hairs in the axils; lem- 

 mas 1.5 to 2 mm. long. E. pectinacea 

 dd. Panicles yellowish, often tinged with purple; axils naked; lem- 

 mas 2.5 to 3 mm. long. E. trichodes 

 aa. Culms creeping along the ground, rooting at the nodes; an annual of wet 

 places. E. hypnoides 



2\2 



213 



214 



215 



216 



217 



Figs. 212-218. — Spikelets: 212, E. capillaris; 213, E. cilianensis; 214, E. 

 frankii; 215, E. lujpnoides; 216, E. pectinacea; 217, E. pilosa; 218, E. trichodes 



Eragrostis capillaris (L.) Nees 

 (Fig. 212) 



Lapham '57, 581; Patterson '76, 51; Flagg '78, 281; Brendel '87, 64; 

 Huett '97, 130. 



Culms branched at the base, simple above, growing in tufts, 6 to 24 

 inches tall; sheaths smooth or sparsely pubescent; blades 3 to 10 

 inches long, 2 to 4 mm. wide, with a few hairs' near the base ; ligule a 

 fringe of hairs, 1 to 2 mm. long; panicle usually nearly the whole 

 length of the plant, always more than half, diffuse, the branches capil- 

 lary, the pedicels mostly over 5 mm. long ; spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, 

 2 to 3 mm. long. 



