58 



BLACK OAT GRASS. 



cies growing wild in the vicinity of Sebago Lake, in 

 Maine, and some other places. Glumes nearly equal, 

 oblong; panicle loose, slender branches, awn of the 

 palea twisted. Of no agricultural value. 



BLACK OAT GRASS (Stipa ave- 

 nacea) is sometimes met with in 

 dry, sandy woods, but is of no 

 agricultural value. It rises from 

 one to two feet ; its panicle is 

 open, leaves almost bristle-form, 

 palea blackish, nearly as long as 

 the almost equal glumes ; awn 

 bent above, twisted below. 



It is one of the prairie grasses 

 of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, 

 &c. } and is common at the South, 

 flowering in June and July. Fig. 

 35 represents the panicle of this 

 grass, with the naked glumes, 

 while the upper palea and its bent 

 and twisted awn is seen in Fig. 

 36. 



PORCUPINE GRASS (Stipa spar- 

 tea) has a shorter, contracted pan- 

 icle, a stouter stem, rising from 

 one to three feet high : glumes 

 loose, greenish, slender, pointed, 

 longer than the paleas ; awn strong 

 and twisted, from three to six 

 inches long, downy below, and 

 rough above. 



This is another prairie grass of 



Fig. 35. Black oat Grass. Illinois, Iowa, and the north-west- 

 ward, and is also a native of southern Europe and north- 

 ern Africa. It is not a cultivated grass. 



