792 OBDEB 156. GRAMINEJ2. 



Ivs. smoothisli, oa sheaths more or less hairy or almost smooth ; pan. large, 6 to 

 10' long, branches subsimple, whorled ; spikelets smooth, lance-ovate, much com- 

 pressed, 2-edged, 1' long, $ as wide, 8 to 12-flowered; lower glume 3, upper 5- 

 veined; lower pale 7 to 9-veined, much larger lhan the strongly 2-keeled upper, 

 with scarcely any awn. (T) Cultivated at the South (in 1857) from seeds distri- 

 buted by the government, but proved no better than our Chess. \ Peru. 



5 B. ciliatus L. Culm erect, smooth, 2 to 4f high ; Ivs. flat, some pubescent, C 

 to 12' long, on sheaths more or less pilous with deflexed hairs ; pan. large, erect, 

 5 to 8' long, finally nodding, branches in 2s and 4s, compound ; spikelets at first 

 lance-fusiibrm, 7 to II -flowered, the fls. soon separating; glume lower 1, upper 3- 

 veined; pales compressed-carinate above, silky -haired near the margins, twice 

 longer than the straight awn. y Damp woods along rivers, U. S. and Can. Jn., 

 Jl. (B. Canadensis MX. B. pubescens Muhl. B. purgans, Ed. 2.) 



/?. PURGANS. Pan. more open; spkl. silky-hairy all over. Mid. and S. 

 States. 



6 B. tectoram L. Culm slender, 1 to 3f, pubescent above ; Ivs. pubescent ; 

 sheaths ciliate with few long hairs; pan. compound, at length 1-sided and nod- 

 ding ; pedicels capillary ; spikelets linear-oblong, minutely downy, about 5-Jtowered ; 

 glumes lower 1-, upper 3-veined ; lower pale 3-veined, carinate. scarious-edged, 

 lance-subulate, scarcely as long as its awn. (D N. York (Sartwell), Penn. (Jack- 

 son). (B. sterilis Torr.) 



31. TRICUS'PIS, Beauv. (Lat. ires, three, cvspis, n point; refer- 

 ring to the structure of the lower pale.) Spikelets terete or tumid, 3 

 to 9-flowered, upper flower abortive ; glumes 2, unequal, awnless ; pales 

 2, the lower larger, hairy-fringed along the keel and the 2 lateral veins, 

 and ending in 3 short cusps or mucrones (the projecting veins and mid- 

 vein) and 2 intermediate teeth, upper pale 2-toothed ; stamens 1 to 3 ; 

 stigmas plumous ; caryopsis smooth, free, 2-horned. Erect, simple. 

 Pan. mostly with racemous branches. 



1 T. seslerioides Torr. FALSE RED-TOP. Culm hard and firm, glabrous, 4 to 

 5f high; Ivs. glabrous, linear, involute when dry, sheaths hairy at the throat; 

 pan. open, loose, 8 to 12' long, the slender branches at length spreading spikl. te- 

 retish, lanceolate, about 5-flowered, purple, 2 to 3" long; cusps of the lower palo 

 very short. y A splendid grass, in dry fields, N. Eng. to III and S. States. 

 Aug., Sept. (Poa MX. "Windsoria poseformis Nutt. Uralepis cuprea Kunth.) 

 A variety has smaller, 3 to 5-flowered, pale purple spikelets and flexuous branches. 

 Another var. has the spikelets white. 



2 T. ambigua Kunth. Culm strictly erect, 2 to 4f high, slender and firm, 

 glabrous as well as the linear, convolute-filiform Ivs., and the sheaths which aro 

 scarce half the length of the internodes; pan. contracted, small. 3 to 5' long; spike- 

 lets few, subsessik, ovate turgid, 5 to 7 -flowered, the fls. at length divaricate, more 

 or less purple. If Car. to Ga. and La. Spkl. not longer, but much thicker than 

 in No. 1. Sept. (Poa, Ell.) 



3 T. stricta. Glabrous ; culm slender, firm, erect, 3 to 6f high ; pan. very strict, 

 spike-like, dtnse ; ppkl. sessile, flat, nearly as broad as long, 7 to 9-flowered; glumes 

 lance-linear, much longer than the pales, about as long as the spikelets. y Mis?, 

 and La. Lvs. very long, flat. Pan. about 6' long, G" wide. A singular grass. 

 (Windsoria Nutt.) 



32. URAL'EPIS, Nutt. SAND GRASS. (Gr. ovpd, tail, Aerrif, a scale ; 

 a characteristic name.) Spikelets 2 to 5-flowered, fls. distant ; glumes 

 2, shorter than the flowers, unequal, awnless ; pales 2, very unequal, 

 both conspicuously fringe-bearded along the 2 or 3 veins, the lower 2- 

 cleft, with the midvein produced into a short, straight awn between the 

 2 segments ; upper 2-keeled. Culms decumbent, branched. Pan. small, 

 the branches racemed. 



1 U. purptirea Nutt. Caespitous; culms procumbent at base, bearded at the 



