222 



GRAMINEAE. 



VOL. I. 



5. Danthonia intermedia Vasey. Vasey's 



Wild Oat-grass. Fig. 536. 

 D. intermedia Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club 10 : 52. 1883. 



A glabrous tufted perennial. Culms 4'-i8' tall; 

 blades' up to 6' long and 2" wide, often involute; 

 panicle ii"-2" long, contracted, dense, spike-like, 

 variegated with purple, its branches short and ap- 

 pressed; spikelets 7"-8" long, exclusive of the awns, 

 the empty scales broad, acuminate, variegated with 

 purple, the flowering scales 3*"-4" long, pubescent 

 only on the margins below the middle and at the 

 base, the ^teeth acute and usually awned, the central 

 awn 3"-4" long. 



Hillsides and meadows, Quebec ; northern Michigan ; 

 Saskatchewan to British Columbia, Washington and 

 Oregon, and southward in the mountains to Colorado. 

 July and Aug. 



56. CAPRIOLA Adans. Fam. PL 2 : 31. 



1763. 



[CYNODON Rich.; Pers. Syn. i: 85. 1805.] 

 Perennial grasses with short flat leaf-blades and spicate inflorescence, the spikes digitate. 

 Spikelets i-flowered, secund. Scales 3 ; the 2 lower empty, keeled ; flowering scale broader, 

 membranous, compressed; palet a little shorter than the scale, hyaline, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. 

 Styles distinct. Stigmas short, plumose. Grain free. [Name mediaeval Latin for the wild 

 goat that feeds on this grass in waste rocky places.] 



Four known species, of which three are Australian, the following widely distributed. Type 

 species : Panicum Dactylon L. 



i. Capriola Dactylon (L.) Kuntze. Bermuda- 

 grass. Scutch-grass. Dog's-tooth Grass. 

 Fig- 537- 



Panicum Dactylon L. Sp. PI. 58. 1753. 

 Cynodon Dactylon Pers. Syn. i : 85. 1805. 

 Capriola Dactylon Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PL 764. 1891. 



Culms 4'-i2' tall, erect, from long creeping and 

 branching stolons, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 

 glabrous or somewhat hairy, crowded at the bases 

 of the culms and along the stolons; ligule pilose; 

 blades i'-2' long, i"-2" wide, flat, rigid, smooth 

 beneath, scabrous above ; spikes 4-5, \'-2' in length, 

 digitate; rachis flat; spikelets i" long; outer scales 

 hispid on the keel, narrow, the first shorter than the 

 second, about two-thirds as long as the broad and 

 strongly compressed third one. 



In fields and waste places, Massachusetts and southern 

 New York to Missouri, Florida and Mexico. West Indies 

 and South America. Cultivated for pasture. Natural- 

 ized from Europe. Wire-grass, Cane-grass, Bahama- 

 grass, Indian Doob. July-Sept. 



57. SPARTINA Schreb. ; Gmel. Syst. 123. 1791. 



Perennial glabrous grasses, with long horizontal rootstocks, flat or involute leaves, and an 

 inflorescence of one-sided spreading or erect alternate spikes. Spikelets i-flowered, narrow, 

 deciduous, borne in two rows on the rachis, articulated with the very short pedicels below 

 the scales. Scales 3 ; the 2 outer empty, keeled, very unequal ; the third subtending a perfect 

 flower, keeled, equalling or shorter than the second ; palet often longer than its scale, 2-nerved. 

 Stamens 3. Styles filiform, elongated. Stigmas filiform, papillose or shortly plumose. Grain 

 free. [Greek, referring to the cord-like leaves of some species.] 



About 7 species, widely distributed in saline soil, a few in fresh-water marshes. Type species : 

 Spartina Schreberi Gmel. 



First scale awn-pointed, equalling the third ; second long-awned. 

 First scale acute, shorter than the third, usually one-half as long. 

 First scale strongly scabrous-hispid on the keel. 

 Leaves y 2 ' wide or more, flat. 

 Leaves y' wide or less. 



Spikes ascending or erect ; leaves narrow, involute ; coast plant. 3. S. patens. 

 Spikes appressed ; leaves usually flat at the base ; western species. 4. S. gracilis. 

 First scale smooth on the keel or occasionally lightly scabrous. 5. S. stricta. 



i. S. Michau.viana. 



2. S. cynosuroides. 



