CIRAMINK.*:. ((JKASS FAMILY.) GO.") 



* « ♦ ♦ Taller (1 -3°) meadow or woodland grasses; panicle open. 

 ■»- SpikeJets mosdy vcrij numerous and croicded on the rather short rough branches 

 {usualli/ in Jives) oj^ the oblong or pyramidal panicle, green, or sometimes 

 violet-tinged ; Jiowers acute, crowded, more or less webbed at base. 



4. P. ser6tina, Ehrhart. (False Red-top. Fowl Meadow-Grass.) 

 Culms tufted without running rootstocks ; leaves narrowly linear, soft and 

 smooth; ligules elongated ; apikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (1-2" long), all 

 short-pedicelled in an elongated panicle, often tinged with dull purple ; Howers 

 and glumes nuTTOw; Jlowcring glume very obscurely nerved. — Wet meadows 

 and low banks of streams; common, especially northward. July, Aug. — A 

 good grass for moist meadows. (Ku.) 



5. P. pratensis, L. (Jink Gkass. Spear Grass. Kentucky Blue- 

 Grass.) C-ulms sending off copious running rootstocks from the base, and the 

 sheaths smooth ; ligule short and blunt ; panicle short-pyramidal ; spikelets 3-5- 

 flowered, crowded, and mostly almost sessile on the branches, ovate-lanceolate or 

 ovate ; flowering glume 5-7ierved, hairy on the margins as well as keel. — Common 

 in dry soil ; imported for pastures aud meadows. Indigenous in mountain re- 

 gions from N. Peun. to New Eng., and northward. May -July. (Eu.) 



P. triviAlis, L. (KouGHisii Meadow-Gkass.) Culmscrect from a some- 

 what decumbent base, but no distinct running rootstocks; s/u-(tt/ts and It ores 

 more or less rough ; ligule oblong, acute ; panicle longer or with the brahches 

 more distant; spikelets mostly 3-tlowered, broader witwaTd; flou-ering glume 

 prominently 5-nerved, naked at the margins ; otherwise nearly as in the preced- 

 ing. — Moist meadows, etc. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



•»- •*- Spikelets fewer and more scattered, on slender pedicels; plants soft and 

 smooth, flowering early. (No running rootstocks, except in n. 10.) 



•*•*■ Spikelets small (1 -2" long), pale green, rather loosely 2-4flowered ; flowers 

 oblong, obtuse ; flowering glume scarcely scarious-tipped ; culm-leaves lance- 

 linear, acute, 1 -3' long. 



6. P. sylvestris, Gray. Culm flattish, erect ; branches of the oblong- 

 pyramidal panicle short, numerous, in fives or more; flowering glumes villous 

 on the keel its whole length, and on the margins below the middle, sparingly 

 webbed at base. — Rocky woods and meadows, western N. Y. to Wise, Kan., 

 and southward. June. 



7. P. d^bilis, Torr. Culms terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 few and slender (the lower 1^-2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes ; 

 flowers very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at base. — Rocky 

 woodlands, R. I. to Penn. and Wi.sc. May. 



•*-*■ ++ Spikelets 2" long, light green ; oblong-lanceolate flowers and glumes acute, 



8. P. alsbdes, Gray. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the upper- 

 most (2^-i' long) often sheathing the base of the narrow and loose panicle, 

 the capillary branches appressed when young, mostly in threes or fours ; flow- 

 ering glume very obscurely nerved, villous on the keel below, and with a narrow 

 cobwebby tuft at base, otherwise glabrous. — Woods, on hillsides, N. Eng. to 

 Fenu. and Va., west to Wise. May, June. 



■M- +H. ++ Spikelets larger (3-4" long), pale green, rarely purple-tinged, few and 

 scattered at the ends of the long capillary branches (mostly in pairs or 

 threes) of the very diffuse panicle ; flowers 3-6, loose, obl&ng and obtuse, as 



