a . GRAMINEZ 719 
minate only. Glumes 4, the 3 lower membranous, empty or the 
third with a staminate flower, the fourth chartaceous, shining, 
enclosing a palet of similar texture anda perfect flower. Sta- 
mens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, enclos- 
ed in the hardened fruiting glume. 
* Spikelets in pairs, one sessile the other pedicelled, crowded on one 
side of simple flattened branches which are digitately clustered at the 
top of the stem: lower flower neutral, of a single palet. 
P. sSANGUINALE L. Sp. 57, Stems erect or decumbent, 1-3 feet long, 
often rooting at the lower nodes, smooth: leaves 2-6 inches long, 2-4 lines 
broad, acuminate: spikes 3-10, narrowly linear, 2-6 inches long, digitate or 
in approximate whorls at the summit of the stem: rachis flat, margined: 
spikelets lanceolate, acute. In fields and waste places throughout North 
America and Europe except the extreme north. 
* Spikelets disposed in panicles, awnless. 
+ Annual. 
P. capilare L. Sp. 58. Stem erect or decumbent, 1-2 feet long, sim- 
le or sometimes branched: sheaths pilose-hirgsute: leaves 6-12 inches 
ong, 3-8 lines broad, more or less pubescent: terminal panicle 3-14 inches 
long, its lower branches at first included in the upper sheaths, poally ex- 
serted and widely spreading, 2-10 inches long: spikelets 1-114 lines long, 
on In dry soil, throughout most parts of North America and 
urope. 
+ + Perennials. 
P pubescens ‘Lam. Encycl. iv, 748. Stems at first erect and simple, 
later profusely branched and leaning or ascending: sheaths hirsute to 
villous, often papillose: leaves rounded-truncate or often narrowed at base, 
those of the stem 2-3 inches long, those of the branches much shorter: 
primary panicle less than 3 inches long, ovoid, the branches ascending: 
s pikelets hardly a line long, pubescent. In dry soil, eastern Washington 
to the Eastern States. ; 
P.. dichotomum L. Sp. 58. Smooth and glabrous or the lower nodes 
bearded : stems: erect, 6-24 inches high, at first simple, later profusely di- 
chotomously branched at about the middle: leaves light green, generally 
much narrowed toward the base, the primary ones distant, 2-3 inches long 
by 2-3 lines broad, those of the branches much smaller, sometimes invo- 
lute: primary panicle usually long-exserted 1-2 inches long, the branches 
loose and spreading, bearing few glabrous ellipsoid spikelets about a line 
long. In dry woodlands, Washington to the Eastern States. 
P. Scribnerianum Nash Bull. Torr, Bot. Club xxii, 421. Stems 
erect, 6-24 inches high, simple or later in the season dichotomously branch- 
ed above, sparingly pubescent: sheaths shortly papillose-hispid, sometimes 
glabrate: leaves 2-4 inches long, 3-6 lines broad, rounded or truncate at 
base, acuminate, more or less spreading, smooth above, scabrous beneath: 
panicles small, the primary one exserted, ovoid, 1-3 inches long, its bran- 
ches spreading 8-12 lines long, often flexuous: spikelets turgid obovoid, 
about 1144 lines long. In dry or moist soil, eastern Washington to the 
Eastern States. . 
P. Scoparium Lam. Encycl. iv, 744. ? Stems spreading, 6-24 inches 
long, geniculate at the lower nodes and at length branched: leaves lanceo- 
late, 3-5 inches long, 4-6 lines broad, mostly erect and somewhat rigid; 
hairy beneath and fringed with spreading hairs at base: sheaths hairy 
panicle 2-3 inches long nearly simple, the simple branches bearing a few 
