GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 635 



sheaths; panicle strict, naked; grain ovoid or oblong (2-3" long), terete. 

 Moist sandy pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. Sept. 



9. LEE RSI A, Swartz. WHITE GRASS. (PI. 7.) 



Flowers crowded in one-sided panic-led spikes or racemes, perfect, but those 

 in the open panicles usually sterile by the abortion of the ovary, those enclosed 

 in the sheaths of the leaves close-fertilized in the bud and prolific. Spikelets 

 1-flowered, flat, more or less imbricated over each other, jointed upon the short 

 pedicels. Glumes 2, chartaceous, strongly flattened laterally or conduplicate, 

 awnless, bristly-ciliate on the keels, closed, nearly equal in length, but the 

 lower much broader, enclosing the flat grain. Palet none. Stamens 1-6. 

 Stigmas feathery, the hairs branching. Perennial marsh grasses; the flat 

 leaves, sheaths, etc., rough upward, being clothed with very minute hooked 

 prickles. (Named after John Daniel Leers, a German botanist.) 

 * Spikelets narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. L. Virginica, Willd. (WHITE GRASS.) Panicle simple ; the spikelets 

 closely oppressed on the slender branches, around which they are partly curved 

 01" long) ; stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting) ; glumes sparingly ciliate 

 (greenish-white). Wet woods; Maine to Minn., and southward. Aug. 



2. L. oryzoides, Swartz. (RiCE CUT-GRASS.) (PI. 7, fig. 1 -3.) Panicle 

 diffusely branched ; spikelets flat, rather spreading (2^-3" long); stamens 3; 

 glumes strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish). Very wet places; Mass, to Minn., 

 and southward ; common. Aug. (Eu.) 



* * Spikelets broadly oval, imbricately covering each other (2-J-3" lonr/). 



3. L. lenticularis, Michx. (CATCH-FLY GRASS.) Smoothish; panic/e 

 simple ; glumes very flat, strongly bristly-ciliate (said to close and catch flies) ; 

 stamens 2; otherwise like the preceding. Low grounds, Va., 111., and 

 southward. 



10. Z I Z A N I A, Gronov. WATER or INDIAN RICE. (PI. 7.) 



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

 lets in the same panicle. Glumes 2, subtended by a small cartilaginous ring, 

 herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile, the lower one tipped 

 with a straight awn in the fertile spikelets. Palet none. Stamens 6. Stig- 

 mas pencil-form. Large, often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed 

 upon the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from ^dviov, the 

 ancient name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aquatica, L. (INDIAN RICE. WATER OATS.) (PI. 7, fig. 1-4.) 

 Annual; culms 3-9 high; leaves flat, 2-3 long, linear-lanceolate; lower 

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

 pistillate; lower glume long-awned, rough; styles distinct; grain linear, slen- 

 der, 6" long. Swampy borders of streams and in shallow water ; common, 

 especially northwestward. Aug. 



2. Z. miliacea, Michx. Perennial ; panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate 

 and pistillate flowers intermixed; awns short; styles united; grain ovate. 

 Peun. (I), Ohio, and southward. Aug. Leaves involute. 



