642 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



greenish lower glumes ; the twisted strong awn (3- 7' long), pubescent below, 

 rough above. Plains and prairies, from 111. and N. Mich, northwestward. 



4. S. viridula, Trin. Culms clustered, 1-3 high or more ; panicle 

 narrow and usually dense, 6-18' long; glumes very thin, 3-4" long; fertile 

 glume usually somewhat silky, with a short callus ; awn 1' long, slender, gla- 

 brous or a little pubescent below. W. Minn., Dak., and southwestward. 



21. O R Y Z 6 P S I S, Michx. MOUNTAIN RICE. (PI. 8.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, nearly terete. Lower glumes herbaceous or thin-mem- 

 branaceous, several-nerved, nearly equal, commonly rather longer than the 

 oblong flower, which is deciduous at maturity, and with a very short obtuse 

 callus or scar-like base. Flowering glume coriaceous, at length involute so 

 as closely to enclose the equal palet and the oblong grain ; a simple untwisted 

 and deciduous awn jointed on its apex. Stamens 3. Squamulaa 2 or 3, con- 

 spicuous. Stigmas plumose. Perennials, with rigid leaves and a narrow 

 raceme or panicle. Spikelets greenish, rather large. (Name composed of 

 opvfr, rice, and 5\fsis, likeness, from a fancied resemblance to that grain.) 



* Styles distinct, short; culm leafij to the summit; leaves' broad and flat. 



1. O. melanocarpa, Muhl. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed ; sheaths 

 bearded in the throat ; panicle simple or sparingly branched ; awn thrice the 

 length of the blackish glume (nearly 1' long). Rocky woods, N. Eug. to 

 Penn., Minn., Mo., and westward. Aug. Culm 2-3 high. 



* * Sti/les united below, slender ; culms tufted, naked ; leaves concave or involute. 



2. O. asperifolia, Michx. (PI. 8, fig. 1, 2.) Culms (9 -18' high), with 

 sheaths bearing a mere rudimentary blade, overtopped by the long and rigid 

 linear leaf from the base ; very simple panicle or raceme few-flowered ; awn 

 2-3 times the length of the rather hain/ whitish glume. Jlillsides, etc., in rich 

 woods; common. N. Eng. to Minn., and northward. May. Leaves without 

 keels, rough-edged, pale beneath, lasting through the winter. Squamula? 

 lanceolate, almost as long as the palet ! 



3. O. Canadensis, Torr. Culms slender (6-15' high), the lowest 

 sheaths leaf-bearing; leaves involute-thread-shaped; panicle contracted (1-2' 

 long), the branches usually in pairs ; glume pubescent, whitish ; awn short and 

 very deciduous, or wanting. Rocky hills and dry plains, Maine to W. New 

 Eng., the mountains of Penu., Wise., Minn., and northward ; rare. May. 

 Glumes 1 - 2" long, sometimes purplish. 



22. MILITJM, Touru. MILLET-GRASS. (PI. 13.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, diffusely panicled, not jointed with their pedicels, con- 

 sisting of 2 equal membrauaceous convex and awnless persistent glumes, with 

 a coriaceous awuless flowering glume and narrow palet. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas braiiched-plumose. Grain not grooved, enclosed iu its glume and palet, 

 all deciduous together. (The ancient Latin name of the Millet, which how- 

 ever belongs to a different genus, of uncertain meaning.) 



1. M. efiusum, L. Smooth perennial, 3-6 high; leaves broad and 

 flat, thin ; panicle spreading (6 - 9' long) ; flower ovoid-oblong. Cold damp 

 woods and mountain meadows, N. Eug. to 111., and northward. June. (Eu.) 



