GRAMTNE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 571 



3. E. StllatUS, Wilkl. Spike dense but slender, upright or slightly nod- 

 ding (3' -4' long) ; spikclets mostly in pairs, 1 -2- (or rarely 3-) flowered, mi- 

 nutely bristly-hairy ; glumes linear-awl-shaped or truly awl-shaped, bristle-awned l 

 about thrice the length of the jiowers, not counting their capillary awn (which is 1 

 long); leaves (rather narrow) and sheaths smooth or hairy, or downy. — Var. 

 villosus (E. villosus, Muld. !) has a somewhat stouter spike and very hairy 

 glumes — Rocky woods and banks; rather rare. July. — The most slender 

 and smallest-flowered species. 



* * Glumes and palere both awnless and soft in texture: rved-iike perennials. 



4. E. mollis, Trin. (not of R.Br.) Stout (3° high) ; spike thick, erect 

 (8 long); spikclets 2 or 3 at each joint, 5 -8-flowcred ; the lanceolate pointed 

 5- 7-nerved glumes (1' long) with the pointed paleaj soft-villous, the apex of the 

 culm velvety ; rhachis of the spikelets separating into joints. — Shore of Lakes 

 Huron, Superior, Maine (Tuckerrnwi ;) and northward. (Near E. arenarius.) 



46. GYMIVOSTICHUI, Schreb. Bottle-brush Grass. 



Spikelets 2-3 (or sometimes solitary) on each joint of the rhachis, raised on 

 a very short callous pedicel, loosely 2-4-flowered (when solitary placed flatwise 

 on the rhachis). Glumes none ! or small awn-like deciduous rudiments (whence 

 the name of this genus [otherwise nearly as in Elymus], from yvfivos, naked, and 

 (Tricot, a rank). 



1. G. HystriX, Schreb. Spike upright, loose (3' -6' long); the spread- 

 ing spikelets 2-3 together, early deciduous; flowers smoothish, or often rough- 

 hairy, tipped with an awn thrice their length (1' long); leaves and sheaths 

 smoothish. 1|. (Elymus Hystrix, L.) — Moist woodlands; rather common 

 July. 



47. AIRA, L. (in part). Hair-Grass. 



Spikclets 2-9owered, in an open diffuse panicle; the (small) flowers both per- 

 fect (sometimes with a third imperfect), usually shorter than the membranaceous 

 keeled glumes, hairy at the base ; the upper remotish. Lower palca truncate 

 or mostly denticulate or eroded at the summit, bearing a slender bent or straight 

 awn on its back. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base. Ovary glabrous. 

 Grain oblong. (An ancient Greek name for Darnel.) 



$ 1. DESCHAMPSIA, Beauv., Trin. — Lower palea thin and scarious or menf 

 branaceous, delicately 3 - b-nerved, eroded or toothed at the truncate summit ; the 

 awn attached mostly a little above the base : grain not grooved, mostly free : glumes 

 about equalling the flowers. 



1. A. fSextlusa, L. (Common Hair-Gkass.) Culms slender, nearly 

 naked (1°- 2° high), from the small tufts of involute-bristle-form leaves (l'-C 

 long) ; branches of the small spreading panicle capillary ; awn about twice the 

 length of the palca. 1|. — Dry places; common. June. (En.) 



2. A. caespitosa, L. Culms in close tufts (2° -4° high); leaves fiat, 

 linear; panicle pyramidal or oblong (6' long) ; awn barely equalling the pulca 

 1J. — Shores of lakes and streams ; not rare northward. June, July. (Eu ) 



