



GRAMINE^E. 413 



feet high, slender, leafy. Panicle long, slender, with short re- 

 mote branches. 



3. U. spicata Linn. : panicle spiked, straight ; leaves involute, disti- 

 chous, spreading ; spikelets 5 9-flowered ; florets triandrous.- Fes* u- 

 ca distichophylla Mich. 



HAB. Salt marshes. N. J. to Car. Aug., Sept. 2t.Root 

 creeping. Culm 18 inches high, branched at base, leafy. Pan- 

 icle contracted into a dense spike. 



42. BRIZA. Linn. 



Spikelets cordate-ovate, many-flowered. Glume shorter than 

 the florets, which are imbricate in two rows. Palea ventri- 

 cose ; lower one cordate at base, embracing the upper, which 

 is nearly round and much shorter. Seed beaked. Panicle 

 compound, loose, with pendulous branches. 



Triandria. Digynia. 



B. media Linn. : panicle erect ; spikelets at length cordate, about 7- 

 flowered ; glume smaller than the florets. 



HAB. Near Boston ; naturalized. Big. Penn. Muhl. May. If. 

 Culm 18 inches high, naked above. Panicle few-flowered ; 

 branches purple. Quaking Grass. 



43. MELICA. Linn. 



Glume unequal, 2 5-flowered, membranous, nearly as long 

 as the florets, of which the upper are incomplete and abortive. 

 Scales truncate, fimbriate. Seed loose, not furrowed. Pani- 

 cle simple or compound. Triandria. Digynia. 



M. speciosa Muhl. : smooth ; panicle loose, erect, few-flowered ; 

 branches simple ; florets obtuse. M. glabra Mich. 



HAB. Mountains. Penn. to Car. June. If. Culm 3 4 feet 

 high. Panicle subsecund, with solitary branches. Melic Grass. 



Div. V. CHLORIDES. Inflorescence spiked. Spikelets so- 

 litary, seldom many-flowered^ with the upper flower abortive 

 and differently formed. Glumes with a keel, not opposite. 

 Liowjr palea generally bearded, seldom beardless, the upper 

 with two keels. 



44. CYNODON. Rich. 



Spikelets 1 -sided, in a simple row. Glumes membranous, 

 persistent, shorter than the florets and only embracing them at 

 the base. Fertile floret with the upper palea bifid-toothed. 

 Rudiment minute, pedicellate. Scales truncate. Seed loose, 

 not furrowed. Spike digitate, with filiform spikelets. 



Tiiandria. Digynia. 

 35* 



