NATURAL HISTORY. 23 



broader leaves and more upright leafy stems. It is most fre- 

 quently met with in the Southern States and in the south of 

 France. Fig. 20 represents the flower of this grass magnified. 



Annual Beard Grass, (^pohjpogon monspeliensis ,^ is a grass 

 which is occasionally found near the coast. It may be known 

 by having glumes with awns more than twice their length, 

 growing from ten to fifteen inches high ; stem erect, round, 

 and a little rough ; five or six leaves, flat, rather broad and 

 acute ; panicle dense, spikelets one flowered — introduced. It is 

 easily distinguished from other grasses by the length of its awns 

 or beards. Of no agricultural value. 



Wood Reed Grass, Indian Reed, Reedy Cinna, (^cinna 

 ariindinacea,^ has spikelets, one flowered, feathered ; glumes 

 lanceolate, acute, strongly keeled, paleae like the glumes, short 

 awned — perennial ; stems erect and reed-like, three or four feet 

 high. The spikelets are green, or of a slight purplish tinge. 

 Moist woods and swamps, common. Flowers in July and 

 August. Panicle large, hairy, rather dense. A large, rank 

 grass, difl"ering from others in having but one stamen in each 

 flower. Of no special agricultural value. 



Drop Seed Grass, (^Mulilenbergia diffusa,^ is a grass which 

 derives its generic name from Dr. Henry Muhlenberg, a dis- 

 tinguished American botanist, pupil of the great Linngeus. It 

 is commonly known in Kentucky and Tennessee by the namie 

 of " Nimble-will," and there forms a pasture grass of some 

 value. Its stems are diflusely branched, from ten to eighteen 

 inches high ; panicles slender, contracted, glumes minute, awn 

 nearly twice as long as the palea. It is sometimes found on 

 dry hills and in woods. Flowers in August and September — 

 perennial. Cattle eat it very readily. Not very common. 



There is another species of this grass, the Miihlenberg-ia 

 glomerata, from one to two feet high, much more common than 

 the preceding, with stems upright, somewhat branched ; panicle 

 oblong, linear, contracted into an interrupted glomerate spike, 

 with long peduncles or flower stalks and awned glumes — peren- 

 nial. Flowers in August and September. Common in swamps 

 and low grounds. Of no agricultural value. 



The Erect Muhlenbergia, or Awned Brachyelytrum, 

 (^Mu/ilenbergia erecta,^ is often found in rocky woods, on the 

 sides of Wachuset Mountain, and many other similar situations. 



