540 gkaminea:. (grass family.) 



* Spikelets narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. L.. ©ryzoides, Swartz. (Rice Cut-grass.) Panicle diffusely branched, 

 often sheathed at the base; spikelets flat, rather spreading in flower (2^"-3' 

 long); stamens 3 ; palea; strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish). — Wet places; com- 

 mon. (Eu.) 



2. EL.. Virgsajica, Willd. (White Grass.) Panicle simple; the spike- 

 lets closely oppressed on the slender branches around which they arc partly curved 

 (l^''long); stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting) ; palese sparingly ciliate 

 (greenish-white). — Wet woods. Aug., Sept. 



* * Spikelets broadly oval, imbricately covering each other (2^"-3" long). 



3. !,. leaiticuluE'is, Michx. (Fly-catch Grass.) Smoothish ; pani- 

 cle simple ; palcce very flat, strongly bristly ciliate (said to close and catch flics) ; 

 stamens 2. — Low grounds, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



Oryza sativa, the Rice-plant, is allied to this genus. 



2. ZISANIA, Gronov. Water or Indian Rice. 



Flowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate both in 1-flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary, and forming a little 

 cup. Palea; herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awuless in the sterile spikelets, 

 the lower tipped with a straight awn in the fertile ones. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. — Large and often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with 

 the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Zi£dviov, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aqtliifica, L. (Indian Rice. Water Oats.) Loioer branches 

 of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the upper erect, pistillate ; 

 pedicels strongly club-shaped; lower paleai long-awned, rough; styles distinct; 

 grain linear, slender. Q (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) — Swampy borders of streams 

 and in shallow water; common, especially northwestward. Aug. — Culms 3°- 

 9° high. Leaves flat, 2° -3° long, linear-lanceolate. Grain ^' long ; gathered 

 for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. iiailiacea, Michx. Panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers intermixed; aivns short; styles united ; grain ovate. 1J. — Penn. ? 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. — Leaves involute. 



3. AL.OPEC1JRITS, L. Foxtail Grass. 



Spikelets 1-flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palea, which 

 is awned on the back below the middle : upper palea wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. — Panicle contracted into a 

 cylindrical and soft dense spike. (Name from aXann]^, fox, and ovpa, tail, the 

 popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. pratensis, L. (Meadow Foxtail.) Culm upright, smooth (2° 

 high) ; palea equalling the acute glumes ; awn exserted more than half its length, 

 twisted; upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. 1J. — Meadows and 

 pastures of E. New England and New York. May. (Nat. from Eu.) 



