The Book of Grasses 



Ligule less than i" long. Leaves 3'-8' long, i"-4" wide, roughish. 

 Panicle 2'-6' long, narrow, many-flowered. Spikelets i -flowered, i"- 

 \\" long, green or bluish purple. Scales 3; outer scales acute, slightly 

 ^, unequal; flowering scale acute. Stamens 3. An 



'^ exceedingly variable species. 



Damp soil and in shaded places. August and 



September. 

 New Brunswick to Ontario, south to North Carolina 

 and Oklahoma. 



Long-awned Hair-grass. MuUenhergia 

 capillaris (Lam.) Trin. 



Perennial. 



Stem 15-3! ft. tall, slender, erect, not branched. 

 Ligule I "-2" long. Leaves long and narrow, 

 6'-i5'long, I "-2" wide. 



Panicle 6'- 18' long, open, delicate, usually purple, 

 branches hair-like, lower branches 3'-8' long. 

 Spikelets i -flowered, about 2" long, narrow, on 

 hair-like pedicels. Scales 3; outer scales slightly 

 unequal, acute; flowering scale bearing a slender, 

 terminal awn 3"-io" long. Stamens 3. 



Sandy and rocky soil and open woods. August to 

 October. 



Massachusetts to Missouri, Florida, and Texas 



LONG-AWNED WOOD-GRASS 



The narrow brooks threading their way 

 through woods and swamps are the haunts of 

 many plants whose location makes them the 

 more rare to the ordinary pedestrian. Here, 

 where the bladderwort hangs its tiny yellow 

 sunbonnets far from travelled paths, and the 

 wild calla unfolds pallid against the velvet 

 mud, may be found the Long-awned Wood- 

 grass growing luxuriantly on a dryer bank of 

 the brookside. 



The grass is distinctly graceful, and at first 

 glance the slender, nodding panicle might 

 suggest the flowering-head of a Brome-grass, 

 but the form of the leaves separates the Long- 

 awned Wood-grass at once from that genus, 

 while the one-flowered spikelets differ from 

 108 



^ 



Long-awned Wood-grass 

 Brachyelytrum erectum 



