GENUS 40. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



8. Sporobolus angustus lUickley. Dense Rush- 

 grass. Smut-grass. Fig. 471. 



5. indictts Nash, in 111. Fl. Ed. i, i : 154. 1896. Not. R. 



Br. 1810. 

 5". angustus Buckley, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1862 : 88. 1863. 



Glabrous and smooth throughout, culms i-4 tall, 

 erect, tufted, simple or rarely sparingly branched. 

 Sheaths few, long, shorter than the internodes ; 

 ligule a ring of very short hairs; blades i"~3" wide, 

 attenuate into a long slender point, the lower 8'-i 

 long, the upper shorter; panicle 4'-i5' in length, usu- 

 ally elongated, narrow, spike-like; spikelets |"-i" 

 long, the outer scales unequal, about half as long 

 as the third, obtuse, smooth and glabrous, the lower 

 one shorter and often erose-truncate ; third scale 

 acute, somewhat exceeding the obtuse or acutish 

 palet. 



In meadows and waste places, Virginia to Florida, west to Missouri and California. Also 

 in Bermuda, the Bahamas and the West Indies. Black-seed, Swamp-grass, Sweet-grass. July-Sept. 



9. Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth. Sea-shore Rush-grass. Fig. 472. 



Agrostis virginica L. Sp. PI. 63. 1753- 



Sporobolus t'irginicus Kunth, Rev. Gram, i: 67. 1829. 



Culms 6'-2 tall, erect or sometimes decumbent, 

 simple or branched at the base, smooth and glabrous. 

 Sheaths numerous, short, overlapping and crowded at 

 the lower part of the culm, smooth, glabrous or some- 

 times pilose on the margins and at the throat ; ligule 

 a ring of short hairs; blades i'-8' long, 2" wide or less 

 at the base, distichous, acuminate into a long point, 

 involute on the margins and at the apex, smooth be- 

 neath, scabrous above or sometimes sparingly hairy ; 

 panicle i'-3' long, 2"~5" thick, dense and spike-like, 

 usually exserted ; spikelets i"-ii" long, the outer scales 

 about equal, acute, smooth and glabrous ; third scale 

 smooth and glabrous, acute, slightly shorter than the 

 second and about equalling the obtuse palet. 



On sandy shores. Virginia to Florida, Texas, Mexico and 

 South America. West Indies. Aug.-Sept. 



10. Sporobolus confusus (Fourn.) Vasey. 

 Vasey's Dropseed. Fig. 473. 



Vilfa confusa Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 101. 1881. 

 .9. confusus Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club, 15: 293. 1888. 



Culms tufted, 4'-i2' tall, slender; blades 2' long or 

 less, not over I" wide; panicle open, i'-8' long, its 

 slender branches spreading or ascending; spikelets about 

 li" long, on capillary pedicels which are abruptly thick- 

 ened at the apex, the empty scales shorter than the 

 flowering scale, glabrous or pubescent, the flowering 

 scale usually pubescent. 



Usually in wet places, Montana and Nebraska to Mexico. 

 June-Sept. 



