GRAMINEAB 359 



minute. Florets subsessile, usually hairy at base; paleae often 

 equal, deciduous with the inclosed grain, the lower one 3-nerved, 

 mucronate, or awned at apex. Stamens 3. Chiefly perennials: 

 rhizomas creeping; culms often much branched, sometimes erect 

 and rigid ; leaves rather short. 



* Lower palea barely mucronate, or sharp-pointed. 



1. M. gobollfera, A. Gray. Culm rather erect, sparingly 

 branched ; panicle simple and very slender ; glumes nearly equal. 

 Agrostis sobolifera. Muhl. $ Ft. Cestr. ed. 2. p, 66, 



SOBOLIFEROUS MUHLENBERGIA. 



Culm about 2 feet high, slender; nodes not swelling; branches erect and filiform. 

 Leaves 4 to 6 inches long, narrowish, rough; sheaths open, smooth. Panicles 

 resembling very slender spikes, the branches alternate, or in pairs, appressed ; 

 spikelets crowded. 

 Ifab. Open, rocky woodlands : frequent. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



2. M. urloilicrutel, Trin. Culms upright, sparingly branched 

 or simple; panicle oblong-linear, contracted into an interrupted 

 glomerate spike, long peduncled, the branches sessile ; glumes awn- 

 pointed, nearly equal, and (with the bristle-like awn) often twice 

 the length of the unequal very acute paleae. 



GLOMERATE MUHLENBERGIA. 



Culms 1 to 2 feet high, compressed, smooth, rigid, often branching from the 

 lower nodes, and somewhat geniculate. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long, narrow, erect 

 and rather rigid, scabrous; sheaths closed, striate, smooth ; ligule very short. 

 Panicle terminal, 2 to 3 inches long, interrupted below, the spikelets, crowded 

 in dense, oblong, subsessile, and often purplish clusters, which are about % an 

 inch in length, and appressed into a spike-form panicle ; glumes terminating in 

 scabrous bristles, which vary in length, 

 Hob. Slaty hills : not common. FL Aug. Fr. Octo. 



Obs. Collected by JOSHUA HOOPES, September, 1852. The dense 

 terminal panicles of this species (which has been hitherto over- 

 looked,) have much resemblance to those of the following. 



3* M. Mexicans!,. Trinius. Culms ascending, much branched ; 



panicles terminal and lateral, contracted, dense-flowered ; glumes 



unequal. 



Agrostis lateriflora. MX. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 56. 



MEXICAN MUHLENBERGIA. 



Culms 18 inches to 3 feet long, with numerous swelling nodes, much branched 

 and leafy above, often naked below. Leaves 2 to 5 inches long ; sheaths compressed, 

 smooth, and but partially embracing the culm. Panicles numerous, the lateral 

 ones partly sheathed at base; lower palea sometimes terminating in an awn. 

 Hob. Moist grounds; fence-rows, Ac.: common. FL Aug. Fr. Sept. 



* * Lower palea bristle-awwd from the tip. 



4. IH. sylvatica, Torr. $ Gray. Culms ascending, diffusely 

 branched ; panicles contracted, densely many -flowered ; glumes 

 nearly as long as the lower palea. 

 Agrostis sylvatica. Torrey. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 57. 



WOOD MUHLEXBERGIA. 



