AGROSTIDE^. 291 



blades of sterile shoots iiuinerous, erect, utirrovv, involute, elongat- 

 ed, those of the culm 3 in number, slender, 5-10 cm. long. Pan- 

 icle exserted or included at tlie base, open, ovate-lanceolate, 10-13 

 cm. long, rays in whorls of 5-10, diverging, flower-bearing along 

 the upper two-thirds. Spikelets reddish brown ; empty glumes ovate 

 acute, 1-nerved, first 1.5-2 mm. long, second about 3 mm. long; 

 floral glume like the second empty glume; paleaa little shorter than 

 its glume, broadly oval when spread, truncate, folded in from the 

 back between the 2 nerves. Grain compressed, obovoid. 



Florida, Ctcrfiss '5377 ; Georgia, Cook?/. 



Dry soil, Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and southward to Florida. 



11. S. purpurascens Hamilton, Prod. 5 (1825). 



Culms simple, 60-90 cm. high. Sheaths smooth or hairy; lig- 

 ule a villous ring; blades slightly scabrous above, smooth below, 

 those of the sterile shoots 20-50 cm. long, flat or involute, 3-5 mm. 

 wide, the upper one of the culm 1-4 cm. long. Panicle race- 

 mose, simple, 10-15 cm. long; rays in close whorls of about 6, the 

 longest 3 cm. long, flower-bearing for nearly its whole length. 

 Spikelets short-pedicelled, smooth, shining, light lead-color; empty 

 glumes 1-nerved, first ovate-lanceolate, 2 mm. long, second ovate, 

 barely acute when spread, 3.3 mm. long; floral glume 1-nerved, 

 oval, oljtuse or refuse, nearly as long as the second glume; palea 

 broad, a little shorter than its glume. 



Cuba, W7'igJd 3127; Texas, Btickley. 



Some use has been made of the meagre description by Chapman 

 found in Coult. Bot. Gaz. 3: 18 (1878). 



Texas and South Florida. 



12. S. tricholepis (Torr.) Coult. Man. Rocky Mount. Bot. 411 

 (1885). Vilfafn'rholepis Torr. Pacif. R. R. Rep. 4:155 (1857). 



A tufted erect perennial, 40-60 cm. high; culms solid as in 

 Maize. Sheaths longer than the internodes; ligule short, or 2.5 

 mm. long on the Mexican specimens mentioned below; blades glab- 

 rous, strongly involute and curved, those of sterile shoots numer- 

 ous, mostly 1.5-2 cm. long, those of the culm 4 in number, 8-15 em. 

 long. Panicle barely exserted, linear, or becoming ovate, 10-18 cm. 

 long, rays mostly single, erect, some in twos or threes, the longest 



