ORDER 156. GR AMINES. 775 



6. A. elata Trin. TALLER THIN GRASS. Calm erect, rigid, thin, simple, ratfier 

 stout, 2 3/hiyh, Isafy; Ivs. broadly (1 2") linear, scabrous, flat, 6 8' long, the 

 sheaths scarcely smooth; panicle purple, contracted, with long, whorled, erect- 

 spreading brandies dense-flow ered half their length; glumes lanceolate, l4", the 

 the upper a little longer than the 5 -veined pale. Swamps, N. Jer. to Ga., Ala. and 

 Ky. (Jackson). Jl, Aug. (T. elatum Ph. A. altissimum Tuckra.) 



5. SPOROB'OLUS Brown. DROP-SEED GRASS. (Gr. ffnopd, seed, 

 3aAAw, to cast.) Spikelets 1 -flowered; glumes 2, unequal, the lower 

 smaller ; fl. sessile ; palesc 2, beardless, awnless, usually exceeding the 

 glumes, the upper 2-keeled ; stain. 2 or 3 ; stig. plumous with simple 

 hairs ; caryopsis free, often with a loose pericarp, deciduous. Tough, 

 wiry grasses with mostly rolled and rigid leaves and the panicles more 

 or less contracted. 



VILFA. Grain (cavyopsis) linear-cylindric. Glumes subequal Nos. 1, 2 



5 Si'OBoiiOLL'8. Grain oval or globoiis. some loose in the pericarp. (*) 



* Glumes very unequal, one of them as long as the palese. (a) 



a Panicle open and stalked, pyramidal Nos. 3, 4 



a Panicle sheathed at the base more or less ...Nos. 5, 6 



* Glumes somewhat equal, both shorter than the palese. (b) 



b Panicle contracted and spike-like, sheathed or not Nos. 1, S 



b Panicloopen and stalked, long and raceme-like Nos. 9, 10 



1 S. Virgin! cus Beauv. Culms numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at 

 base, branched, about a foot long; Ivs. somewhat 2-rowed, involute, rigid, erect, 

 2 3' long, with smooth sheaths which are hairy at the throat and swollen with 

 the enclosed panicles; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones 

 concealed; glumes nearly equal, nearly as long as the subequal paleae. 2f Sandy 

 soils, Middle and S. States. Sept., Oct. (Agrost. L.) 



2 S. vagiiieeflonis Ton-. Culms simple, ascending, slender, forming tufts 6 12' 

 high ; Ivs. involute-subulate, rather rigid, short (2 4') ; panicles contracted, spiko 

 form, lateral and terminal, mostly concealed in the sheaths ; glumes about equal, 

 and equaling the subequal pales; caryopsis linear, a third shorter than the pales. 

 (J) Dry, gravelly fields, U. S. more common W. and S. (Agr. MuM. Crypsis, Nutt.) 



3 S. heterolepis. Culm 1 2f high, smooth ; Ivs. setaceous, somewhat convo- 

 lute, scabrous on the margins ; lower sheaths pubescent, upper ones smooth ; panicle 

 spreading, pyramidal, few-flowered ; glumes purplish, very unlike, outer one subuli- 

 form, inner one ovate, cuspidate, membranaceous in texture, 1-veined; pales ob- 

 long, obtuse, thin, a little shorter than the superior glume, the lower 1-veined, api- 

 culate, the upper 2-veined, shorter; sta. 3; anth. linear, reddish; fr. roundish, 

 smooth. Conn, to Wise, not rare. Aug., Sept. (Vilfa, Gray.) 



4 S. junceus Mich. Glaucous; culm erect, 1 2fhigh, terete, slender; Ivs. erect, 

 2 6" by 1", concave, convolute when dry, margin scabrous; sheaths much 

 shorter than the internodes; stip. short; pan. oblong-pyramidal, branches verti- 

 cillate, about in 63 ; glumes purple, similar, lanceolate, acute, upper as long as the 

 paleas, the lower twice shorter ; palea subequal ; anth. and sty. whitish. if Penn. 

 to Flor. and La,, in barrens. Aug. Oct. 



5 S. cryptdndrus Gray. Culm 2 Sfhigh; Ivs. broadly (2") linear, Jlat; sheaths 

 bearded at the throat; panicle pyrami lal, its base enclosed by the terminal sheath, 

 I/ranches spreading, hairy in the axil;; fls. bluish; pales subequal, as long as the 

 upper glume, twice longer than the lower. Dry, sandy soils, W. and S. States, 

 rare northward. Aug. (Agr. & Vilfa cryptandra Torr.) 



6 S. asper Kunth. Rt. white, fibrous ; culm stout, glabrous, geniculato at base, 

 2f high; Ivs. rigid, involute, rough-edged, 2 8' by 1 3", tapering to a pungent 

 point ; branches with short leaves, barren, also ending in a long, pungent point ; 

 sheaths ciliate at edge and bearing dense tufts of long, white hairs at top ; panicles 

 terminal and lateral, nearly enclosed in the long sheaths ; spikelets blackish-green; 

 lower glume very short, upper a little longer than the pales ; fr. compressed, obo- 

 vate i" in length. If Ohio, (Snllivant) to 111. (Agrost. MX. Vilfa, Beauv.) 



7 S. longifolius. Culms slender, tufted, 2 3f high, from long fibrous roots; 

 Irs. a:l involute, very long (I 3f), tapering to a long thread-like point; panicle 



