fi70 GRAMINE.*:. (grass FAMILY.) 



the back or compressed-keeled, 5 - 9-nerved, awued or bristle-pointed from 

 below the mostly 2-cleft tip ; palet at length adhering to the groove of the 

 oblong or linear grain. Stamens 3. Styles attached below the apex of the 

 ovary. — Coarse grasses, with large spikelets, at length drooping, on pedicels 

 thickened at the apex. (An ancient name for the Oat, from $p6fj.os,food.) 

 § 1. Flowering glume oblong, turgid, and convex on the back; the flowers imbri- 

 cated over one another before expansion ; lower emptg glume distinctli/ 3-5- 

 nerved, the upper 5-9-}ierved. 



* Perennial ; indigenous. Lower glume strongly 3-nerved, the upper 5-nerved. 



1. B. K^lmii, Gray. (Wild Chess.) Culm slender (H-3° high); 

 leaves and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy ; panicle simple, small 

 (3-4' long) ; spikelets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7 - 12-flowered, 

 densely silky all over ; awn only one third the length of the lance-oblong 

 flower ; flowering glume 7 - 9-nerved, much longer and larger than the palet. 

 — Dry ground, N. Eng. to Penn., Mo., Minn., and northward. June, July. 



* * Annuals or biennials, introduced into grain-fields, or rarehj in waste grounds, 



B, SECALiNus, L. (Cheat or Chess.) (PI. 10, fig. 1, 2.) Panicle spread- 

 ing, even in fruit, the drooping peduncles little branched ; spikelets oblong- 

 ovate, turgid, smooth, of 8-10 rather distant flowers; glume rather longer 

 than the palet, short-awned or awnless ; sheaths nearly glabrous. — Too com- 

 mon in wheat-fields. June, July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



B. MOLLIS, L. (Soft Chess.) Whole plant downy; panicle more erect, 

 contracted in fruit; spikelets con/ra/-ot"afe, somewhat flattened ; flowers closely 

 imbricated ; glume acute, equalling the awn. — Wheat-fields, N. Y. to Va.'; 

 scarce. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



B. race.m6sus, L. (Upright Chess.) Very similar to the last, but nearly 

 glabrous or the sheaths sometimes hairy ; glumes glabrous and shining. 

 (Adv. from Eu.) 



§ 2. Flowering glume somewhat convex, but keeled and laterally more or less com- 

 pressed, at least above ; flowers soon separating from each other ; lower empty 

 glume \-nerved, the upper Z-nerved, or with an obscure additional pair. 

 * Perennial, tall (3-5° high) ; flowers oblong or lanceolate. 



2. B. cili^tUS, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches 

 at length divergent, drooping; spikelets 7 - 12-flowered ; flowering glume 

 tipped with an awn -J-f its length, silky with appressed hairs near the mar- 

 gins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish on the back ; — 

 or, in var. purgans, Gray, clothed all over with short and fine appressed 

 hairs. — River-banks and moist woodlands; common. July, Aug. — Culm 

 and large leaves (3 - 6" wide) smooth or somewhat hairy ; the sheaths in the 

 larger forms often hairy or densely downy near the top. Variable, comprising 

 several forms. 



B. ASPER, L. Culm slender and panicle smaller; spikelets 5-9-flowered; 

 glume linear-lanceolate, scarcely keeled, hairy near the margins, rather longer 

 than the awn ; sheaths and lower leaves hairy or downy. — N. Brunswick to 

 Mich, and Ky. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Annual or biennial; flowers slender; palet pectinate-ciliate on the nerves. 



B. STERiLis, L. Culm glabrous; leaves rather downy; panicle open; 

 spikelets on elongated nearly straight simple peduncles, of 5-9 rather distant 

 7-nerved roughish linear-awl-sliaped loug-awned flowers (awn 1' long). — 

 Waste places and river-banks, E. i.lass. to Penn. ; rare. June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



