GRASSES OF IOWA. 237 



blade i to .2 lines (2-4 mm.) wide, 6 to 20 inches (1^-4 dm.) Long, 

 glabrous to sparingly hairy. Panicle twelve to thirty inches long, the 

 ultimate branches and long, diverging pedicels capillary. Spikelets ovate- 

 lanceolate, about 1 \ lines (3 mm.) wide, 3 to 4 lines (6-8 mm.) long, 

 two to six or ten-flowered; empty glumes narrow -lanceolate, very acute, 

 nearly equal, 1 to 2 lines (2-4 mm.) long; flowering glume ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, acute, strongly three-nerved, about il lines (3 mm.) long, 

 smooth or scabrous on the keel. Keels of the palea scabrous. Grain 

 very short, oblong, strongly grooved. July to September. 



Eragrostis trichodes is a very local grass, occurring only on 

 sandy beaches, Muscatine Island. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Iowa. Fruitland (Barnes and Miller); Muscatine (Reppert). 

 North America. Illinois to Nebraska, Missouri (Carson Station, 

 it), Indian Territory and Texas (College Station, Pammel ) . 



7. EATONIA. 



Eatonia Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 104. 1819. Endlicher Gen. PI. 99. 

 Bentham & Hooker. Gen. PI. 3: 1184. Hackel in Engler and Prantl. 

 Nat. Pllanz. Fam . II. 2: 70. Scribner. Bull. U S. Dept. Agr. Div. 

 Agros 20: 135. f. 104. [Rev. Ed.] 



Rebou'ea Kunth. Rev. Gram. 341. 1835. 



Colobanthus Trin. Mem. cad. Petr. II. 6: 6G. 1845. 



Spikelets usually two-flowered, with an abortive rudiment or pedi- 

 cel ; numerous, in a contracted or slender panicle, very smooth, empty 

 glumes somewhat equal in length, but very dissimilar, a little shorter 

 than the flowers; the lower narrowly linear, keeled, one-nerved; the 

 upper broadly obovate, folded around the flowers, three-nerved on the 

 back, not keeled, scarious-margined. Flowering glume oblong, obtuse, 

 compressed-boat-shaped, naked, chartaceous; the palet very thin and 

 hyaline. Stamens 3. Grain linear-oblong, not grooved. Perennial, tall 

 and slender grasses, with simple, tufted culms, and often sparsely downj 

 sheaths, flat lower leaves, and small greenish (rarely purplish) spikelets. 

 i Named for Prof. Amos Eaton, author of a popular Manual of the 

 Botany of the United States, and of other popular treatises.) 



According to Bentham & Hooker and Hackel there are two or 

 three species; this number should be increased to 4; Beal recognizes 6 

 species. 



