146 



GRASSES OF IOWA. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Wild Millet. A pale green 

 perennial, with simple culms, 2 to 

 4^ feet (6-14 dm.) high, with 

 broad, flat, spreading leaves, and 

 diffuse panicles 6 to 8 inches 

 (15-20 cm.) long. Branches of 

 the panicle two to five together, 

 flower-bearing above, naked be- 

 low. Spikelets 1^ lines (3 mm.) 

 long, empty glumes nearly equal, 

 3-nerved, a little longer than the 

 oblong, obtuse flowering glume. 



DISTRIBUTION'. 



This species is included as 

 there is a possibility of its occur- 

 rence in the northeastern part 

 of the state. 



North America. From New 



England states to Pennsylvania 



and Michigan; Ohio (Worth- 



ington, Horr ; Painsville, 



Beardslee) ; west to Minnesota, 

 Fig. IOo. Milium effusum—a, b, spike- ' ' 



iets;c, dorsal view of flowering glume; d, and from Cape Breton Island 



anterior view of the same showing a portion of . r^ u l /"» *.„„•„ 



the nearly enclosed palea. (Div. of Agros. U. S. t0 Q UebeC a,ul WeStem Ontario. 

 Dept. Agrl. ) 



6. BRACHYELYTRUM. 



Brachyelytrum Beauv. Agros. 39. pi. 9. f. 2. 1812. Bentham and 

 Hooker. Gen PI. 3: 1144. Hackel in Engler and Prantl. Nat. Pflanz. Fam. II. 

 2: 17. Scribner. Bull. U. S. Dept. Agrl. Div. Agros. 20: 66. f. 44. 



Muhlenbergia in part. Endlicher. Gen. PI. 88. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, with a conspicuous, filiform pedicel of an abor- 

 tive, second flower about half its length, nearly terete, few. in a simple, 

 appressed panicle. Lower glumes unequal, persistent, usually minute, 

 or the lower one almost obsolete. Flowering glume and palct chartaceo- 

 herbaceous, involute, enclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, 

 rough with scattered, short bristles, the first 5-nerved, extended info a 

 long, straight awn, the palet 2-pointed ; the awn-like sterile pedicel 

 partly lodged in the groove on its back. Stamens 2; anthers and stigmas 

 very long. Perennial, with simple culms, 1 to 3 feet (2-6 dm.) high, 

 from creeping rootstocks; downy sheaths, broad and flat lanceolate- 



