G60 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



* * Glume narrower, sometimes acutish ; panicle more loose and slender. 



2. E. Pennsylvanica, Gray. Leaves mostly 3 - 6' long ; panicle long 

 and slender, loose, the racemose branches lax and somewhat elongated ; 

 glumes thin and broadly scarious, the lowest half the length of the flower, 

 very narrow, the upper obtuse or bluntly somewhat pointed; the 2 (rarely 3) 

 flowers lanceolate, with pointed glumes. Varies, with a fuller panicle, 6-8' 

 long, with the aspect of Cinna (var. M\JOR, Torr.) ; and, rarely, with the lower 

 palet minutely mucrouate-pointed ! Moist woods and meadows ; common. 



3. E. Dudleyi, Vasey. Culms very slender; leaves shorter, 1-2' long; 

 panicle very slender, the branches few, short and mostly appressed ; empty 

 glumes nearly equal, the lower oblong, the upper broadly elliptical, apiculate ; 

 flowering glumes shorter than in n. 2, acutish. Long Island to central N. Y., 

 south to S. C. 



57. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 70-flowered, nearly as in Poa, except that the flowering glume 

 is but 3- (rarely 1-) nerved, not webby-haired at the base, and is deciduous; 

 palet persistent on the rhachis after the rest of the flower has fallen. Culms 

 often branching. Leaves linear, frequently involute, and the ligule or throat 

 of the sheath bearded witli long villous hairs. Panicle various. (Name from 

 ?lp, spring, and &ypo<rris, a grass.) 



* Prostrate and creeping, much branched ; root annual ; spikelets fiat, imper- 

 fectly dioecious, clustered, almost sessile, in the more fertile plant almost capitate. 



1. E. rdptans, Nees. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 10-30-flowered; flow- 

 ers lance-ovate, acute ; leaves short, almost awl-shaped. Gravelly river- 

 borders; common. Aug. Flowering branches 2 - 5' high. 



* * Diffusely spreading, or the flowering culms ascending, low (6-15' high), 



annual ; spikelets often large , flat , forming a narrow crowded panicle. 



E. MINOR, Host. Sheaths often hairy; leaves flat, smooth; spikelets short- 

 pedicelled, lance- or oblong-linear, 8 - 20-flowered, lead-colored (2-5" long); 

 flowers ovate, obtuse, the lateral nerves becoming evident, and keel smooth. 

 ( E. poteoides, Beauv.) Sandy waste places, eastward ; rare. (Nat. from Eu.) 



E. MA.JOR, Host. Sheaths mostly glabrous; spikelets larger (3- 10" long), 

 becoming linear, whitish when old, 10-50-flowered ; flowers more spreading, 

 their glumes larger, with very strong lateral nerves and rough on the keel. 

 (E. poceoides, var. megastachya, Gray.) Similar situations, and more com- 

 mon. Aug. Emits a sharp, unpleasant odor. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * * Erect, or in group *- diffusely spreading and ascending ; panicle open, 



its branches capillary ; spikelets proportionally small, sometimes minute. 

 (Number of flowers in the spikelet very variable, according to age, etc.) 

 t- Annual ; culms slender, branching and decumbent or spreading at base ; leaves 

 narrow, flat, soft ; branches of the narrow panicle rather short and thickly- 

 flowered, not bearded in the axils, or sometimes the lowest sparingly. 



E. PIL6SA, Beauv. (PI. 10, fig. 1-4.) Panicle elongated-oblong, with 

 rather erect branches (except at flowering-time); spikelets 5 - 1 2-flowered (2- 

 4" long, purplish-lead-color), becoming linear, about equalling their pedicels ; 

 empti/ gluiiifs (small) and flowering ones obtuse, the latter broadly ovate, l-nerved 

 (lateral nerves obsolete). Sandy or gravelly waste places, S. New Eng. to 111., 

 and southward. Aug. Plant 6 - 12' high. (Nat. from Eu.) 



