598 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



-t- -i- Panicles spiked. 



4. S. Indicus, Brown. (SMUT GRASS.) Culms erect; panicle elon- 

 gated, linear ; leaves long, flat ; floret twice as long as the glumes. Waste 

 places. May - Sept. Culms 2 - 3 high. Leaves with bristle-like summits. 

 Panicle 6' -18' long, turning blackish. Spikelets crowded on the short ap- 

 pressed branches. 



5. S. Virginicus, Kuuth. Culms creeping, short-jointed, the short and 

 mostly clustered branches erect ; leaves 2-rauked, soon convolute, short and 

 rigid ; panicle small, lanceolate ; glumes nearly equal, acute, rather longer 

 than the floret. Saline marshes along the coast. July - August. Flower- 

 ing branches 6' -12' high. Leaves 2' - 4' long. Panicle 1'- 2' long, pale or 

 purple. 



* * Grain lanceolate or oblong, adhering to the investing pericarp: panicle spiked, 

 more or less included in the sheaths of the leaves. 



6. S. asper, Kunth. Perennial; culms tall and slender ; leaves elongated, 

 rough above, bristle-like at the summit ; panicles partly included in the upper 

 sheaths ; floret hairy, pointed, 2-3 times as long as the rough-keeled glumes 

 and linear grain. Dry sandy soil. July- August. Culms 2-3 high. 

 Sheaths hairy at the throat. 



7. S. vaginseflorus, Vasey. Annual ; culms low, clustered, bearing 

 partly concealed panicles at every upper joint ; leaves short, smoothish ; floret 

 smooth, one third longer than the smooth glumes and oval grain. Dry bar- 

 ren soil, North Carolina and Tennessee. Sept. Culms G' - 1 2' high. Leaves 

 2' -4' long. 



Var. minor, Scribuer. Culms more slender and less clustered ; panicles 

 less developed ; the lateral ones included; spikelets and glumes narrower. 

 With the type. 



8. S. cryptandrus, Gray. Culms rather rigid, 1- 2 high ; leaves lin- 

 ear, flat, bearded at the throat, the uppermost sheath dilated and enclosing the 

 base of the dense panicle ; glumes keeled, the upper as long as the floret, and 

 twice as long as the lower one. Coast of North Carolina. 



31. AGROSTIS, L. BENT GRASS. 



Tufted usually tender grasses, with flat and narrow leaves ; the small 1- 

 flowered spikelets racemose on the hair-like clustered brandies of the open 

 panicle, on thickened pedicels. Glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the floret. 

 Flowering glume awnless, or awned on the back, 3 - 5-nerved, the palet 2- 

 nerved, occasionally minute or wanting. Stamens 1-3. Styles or stigmas 2. 

 Grain free. 



1. TRICHODIUM. Palet minute or wanting. 



1. A. elata, Trin. Culms stout, strictly erect, 2 -3 high ; leaves 6' -8' 

 long, 1"- 2" wide; panicle open, the clustered branches closely flower-bearing 

 above the middle ; lower glumes \\" long, rather longer than the flowering 

 one ; palet minute or wanting. Low sandy pine barrens. Sept. 



2. A. perennans, Tuck. Culms slender, erect, or decumbent at the 

 base, l-2 high ; leaves 2' -4' long; panicle at length widely spreading, the 



