GRASS FAM1L5T. 469 



III. MEADOW AND FODDER GRASSES. Species of widely differing char- 

 acteristics in the different parts of the country. Oat Grass (see V.) is 

 sometimes grown in meadows, and Gama Grass (see VIL) is used for 



* Flowers in loose panicles. 

 +- Spreading inveterately by creeping rootstocks. 



S6rghum Halapense, Linn. (ANDROp6ooN ARUNDIN\CEUS). JOHNSON 

 GRASS. GUINEA GRASS (erroneously). A coarse grass, 4-7 high, much 

 prized for hay in the S. ; leaves long, loose, and flat, with a prominent, 

 white, raised midrib ; panicle long and very open ; the spikelets reddish 

 and each bearing one or two awns. Old World. By some thought to be 

 the parent of the Sorghums. 2/ 



H- - Not spreading widely by rootstocks. 

 w- Flower 1 in each spikelet and perfect, but sometimes rudiments of others. 



Agrdstis dlba, Linn. FIORIN or WHITE BENT GRASS. Stems with pro- 

 cumbent or creeping base ; ligule long, acute, and conspicuous ; panicle 

 contracting after flowering, with roughish branches, greenish or slightly 

 purplish ; a valuable meadow grass. 21 



Var. vulgaris, Thurb. REDTOP. Rather low (l-2) and delicate 

 grass of meadows and pastures, with oblong spreading panicle of small 

 purple or purplish spikelets ; ligule short and truncate. 2Z 



Calamagrdstis Canade"nsis, Beauv. BLUE JOINT GRASS. In all bogs 

 N., and in reclaimed low meadows, much liked by cattle; 3-5 high ; 

 resembles an Agrostis, but taller, and with a tuft of downy long hairs 

 around the flower almost its length, the flowering glume with a delicate 

 awn low down on its back and scarcely stouter than the surrounding 

 down. 2 



Panicum mi/faceum? Linn* TRUE MILLET,, Spikelets all pedicellate in 

 an umbel-form panicle, each with 3 empty glumes and 1 flower ; tall 

 grass (3-4) with loose, soft leaves and drooping panicle. Probably E 

 Indian. (D 



w -w Flowers several in each spikelet, most or all of them perfect. 



= Panicle contracted in 1-sided clusters; glumes compressed on the sides 

 and carinate. 



D&ctylis g/omerdta^ Linn. ORCHARD GRASS. Nat. from Eu. in mead- 

 ows and yards ; a tall and coarse, but valuable grass for hay, etc. , flour- 

 ishes in shady places, 3 high ; with broadly linear, rather rough, pale, 

 and keeled leaves, and a dense panicle of one-sided clusters, on which the 

 spikelets are much crowded, each 3-4-flowered, the glumes tapering into 

 1 a short awn, rough-ciliate on the keel ; flowers early summer, y. 



= = Panicle symmetrical, diffuse ; glumes compressed and carinate and 

 pubescent or cobwebby at the base in the Poas, but simply convex and 

 glabrous in Festuca* 



P6a serfttina, Ehrh. FOWL MEADOW GRASS, FALSE REDTOP. An 



important native grass in wet meadows N.; flowers in late summer in 

 a loose panicle, the 2-4-flowered spikelets green with dull purple ; flower- 

 ing glume very obscurely nerved. 2 



P. f/vV/d//s, Linn. ROUGHISH MEADOW GRASS. An introduced meadow 

 and pasture grass, N. ; flowering before midsummer, with open panicle of 

 green spikelets, these mostly 3-flowered, the flowering glume prominently 

 5-nerved ; sheaths and leaves roughish ; ligule oblong, acute. A white- 

 striped variety, is cult, for ornament, 21 



P. pratensis, Linn* JUNE GRASS, KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. Dry 

 meadows and pastures, spreading by running rootstocks, and with a 



