GRAMINEJi. (GRASS FAMILY.) 567 



silky all over; awn only one third the length of the lancc-oblong flower ; lower 

 palea 7-9-nerved, much longer and larger than the upper; culm slender i'l^°- 

 3° high) ; leaves and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy. (B. ciliatus, 

 Maid. B. purgans, Ton: Fl. N. Y.) — Dry woodlands and open places; com- 

 mon northward. June, July. — This is preserved in the herbarium of Linnaeus 

 under the name of B. ciliatus, though it is not the plant he has described ; thence 

 has arisen much confusion. 



§2. SCHEDONORUS, Beauv., Fries. — Lower palea somewhat convex, but 

 keeled on the back, laterally more or less compressed, at least above : Jlowers soon 

 separating from each other : lower glume 1- the upper 3-nerved. 



5. B. ciliTltlSS, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches at 

 length divergent, drooping; spikelcts 7 - 12-fiowered; flowers lanceolate, tipped 

 with an awn half to three fourths their length ; lower palea silky with appressed 

 hairs near the margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish 

 on the back (B. Canadensis, Michx. B. pubescens, Muhl.) ; — or, in var. pur- 

 gans (B. purgans, L. !), clothed all over with very short and fine appressed 

 hairs, lj. — River-banks and moist woodlands; rather common. July, Aug. 



— Culm 3° -4° high, with the large leaves (+/-i' wide J smooth or somewhat 

 hairy ; the sheaths in the larger forms often hairy or densely downy near the top. 



— Variable as to the pubescence, &c, and comprising several forms, including 

 both the Linmean species ; for which the present name is preferable to the inap- 

 plicable purgans, which was taken from Feuille's South American species. — In 

 a large-flowered form, two obscure additional nerves appear in the upper glume. 



6. B. sterilis, L. Panicle very loose, the slender and nearly simple branches 

 drooping ; spikdets of about 6 rather distant and 7-nerved roughish linear-awl- 

 shaped long-awncd glowers ; leaves rather hairy. Q) — Penn Yan, New York, 

 Sartwell. July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



38. UNIOLA, L. Spike-Grass. 



Spikelets closely many-flowered, very flat and 2-edged ; one or more of the 

 lowest flowers sterile (neutral) and consisting of a single palea. Glumes lance- 

 olate, compressed-keeled. Lower palea eoriaceo-membranaccous, strongly later- 

 ally compressed and keeled, striate-nerved, usually acute or pointed, entire, en- 

 closing the much smaller compressed 2-keeled upper one and the free laterally 

 flattened smooth grain. Stamen 1 (or in U. paniculata 3). — Upright smooth 

 perennials, growing in tufts from strong creeping rootstocks, with broad leaves 

 and large spikelets in an open or spiked panicle. (Ancient name of some plant, 

 a diminutive of unio, unity.) 



# Spikelets large (^' - 2' long), ovate or oblong, 9 - 30-fiowered : panicle open. 



1. U. pnilicilllita, L. Leaves narrow when dry, convolute; spikelets 

 ovate, short-pedicelled ; flowers glabrous, bluntish, several of the lower sterile; the 

 fertile with 3 stamens ; culm and panicle elongated (4°-S° high). — Sand-hills 

 on the sea-shore, S. Virginia and southward. 



2. U. latifolia, Michx. Leaves broad and flat (3'- 1' wide) ; spikelets at 

 length oblong, hanging on long pedicels ; flowers acute, ciliate on the keel, all but 



