562 GRAMINE.®. (GRASS FAjIIIY.) 



■w ++ Flowers (oblong-lanceolate) and both glumes acute: panicle narrow. 



5. P. alsodcs. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the uppermost 

 (2j'-4' long) often sheathing the base of the panicle, the capillary branches of 

 which are appresscd when young, and mostly in threes or fours ; spikelets 3- 

 flowered (pale green, soft) ; lower palea very obscurely nerved, villous on the 

 keel below, and with a narrow cobwebby tuft at its base, otherwise glabrous. 

 (P. nemoralis, Torr. .j- ed 1 : but wholly different from the European species cf 

 that name.) — Woods, on hill-sides, New England to Wisconsin. May, June. 

 +- -t- +- Branches of the rather narrow but loose long-peduncled panicle in threes or 



Jives, or rarely in pairs, short or shortish, above bearing scattered and rather few 

 spikelets; these barely 2" long, pale green, rather loosely 2 - 4-flowered : flowers 

 (oblong) and glumes obtuse ; lower pedea scarcely scarious-tipped : plant very smooth, 

 slender (l£°-3° high) : culm-leaves lance-linear, acute, l£'-3' long, soft. 



6. P. defoiiis, Torr. Culm terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 slender (the lower l£'-2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes; flowers 

 very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at their base. — Rocky 

 woodlands, Rhode Island and N. New York to Wisconsin. May. 



7. P. sylvestris. (Mm jiattish, erect; branches of the oblong-pyramidal 

 panicle short, in fives or more ; lower palea villous on the keel for its whole length, 

 and on the margins below the middle, sparingly webbed at the base. — Rocky woods 

 and meadows, Ohio to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and southward. June. 



+- •*- n- -<- Branches of the narrow or oblong panicle mostly short, in fives or some- 

 times in twos and threes, rough, mostly compound and bearing very numerous closely- 

 flowered spikelets : flowers acute or acutish, more or less webbed at the base. 



++ Panicle open, its branches in fives : the 3 - 5-flowered spikelets all distinctly pedicelled, 

 acute, slightly flattened ; lower palea villous or pub: scent on the keel and marginal 

 nerves, the intermediate nerves obsolete: culms erect (2° -3° high), terete, growing 

 in tnfts, not at all stoloniferous at the base. 



8. P* scrdtina, Ehrhart. (False Red-top. Fowl Meadow-Grass.) 

 Leaves narrowly linear ; ligules elongated; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (1"- 

 2" long) ; 'flowers acutish, green, often tinged with dull purple. (P. nemoralis, 

 Pursh. P. crocata, Michx. belongs to this or the next.) — Wet meadows and 

 low banks of streams ; common everywhere northward. July, Aug. — A good 

 grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



9. P. nemoi'aBiS, L. Leaves linear; ligules obsolete or very short; spike- 

 lets 4-5-flowered, rather larger, and the flowers and glumes more sharply acute and 

 narrower ; otherwise nearly as in the preceding, which is too nearly related to 

 it. — Wisconsin (Lapham), and northward. (Eu.) 



++ ++ Panicle with the flattened spikelets crowded on the branches, mostly short-pedi- 

 celled, sometimes almost sessile : culms stoloniferous at the base, except in No. 10. 



10. P. triviXlis, L. (Rough Meadow-Grass.) Culms (l°-3° high) 

 and sheaths usually rather rough ; branches of the pyramidal diffuse panicle mostly 

 in fives ; spikelets 3-5-flowcred ; flowers acute, prominently b-nerved, a little hairy 

 on the keel, otherwise glabrous; ligule acute, oblong. — Moist meadows; less 

 common and less valuable than the next. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



