172 



PANIC ACE.E. 



sile or pedicellate on the jointless branches of the jointed panicle. 

 Staminate spikelets with 2 glumes tliat are narrow, membranous, 

 awnless, the outer one broader and empty, the inner floral one 

 narrower, but scarcely shorter; palea 0. Stamens 6-18. Pistil 

 rudimentary or 0. Pistillate spikelets smaller than the stami- 

 nate, the outer glume broader and apparently many-nerved. 

 Staminodia 0. Styles short, distinct, with simple plumose stig- 

 matic hairs. Grain ovoid, loosely enclosed in the membranous 

 glumes. Seed plano-convex, free from the i^ericarp. Creeping or 

 floating grasses, low or tall, witli flat blades. Panicles terminal or 

 axillary, spreading, with filiform rays. 



Nearly allied to Zizcmia, but the spikelets are smaller, not awned, 

 the styles sliort, distinct, and there are usually more than six sta- 

 mens to the flower. 



Species six, all American. 



Fig. 33. — Luziola Alabamensis. A, staminate spikelet; B, pistillate spike- 

 let. (Richardson.) 



1. L. Alabamensis Chapm. Fl. S. States, 584 (1860). 



Culms 5-15 cm, high, branching near the base, from a creeping 

 rhizoma. Leaf-blades flat, smooth, the upper partially included 

 by the purple sheath of the one below. Base of panicle often in- 

 cluded in the sheath. Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, shorter than their 

 pedicels. Glumes of staminate spikelets lanceolate, 7-nerved; 

 those of the pistillate broader, 11-13-nerved, twice the length of 

 the smooth mature grain. 



Alabama. 



2. L. Peruviana J. F. Gmel. Syst. 637 (1778). 



