228 



GRAMINEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. Atheropogon curtipendulus (Michx.) Fourn. Tall Grama-grass. Fig. 550. 



Chloris curtipendula Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 59. 1803. 

 Bonteloua racemosa Lag. Var. Cienc. y Litter. 2 : Part 4, 



141. 1805. 



Bonteloua curtipendula Torr. Emory's Rep. 153. 1848. 

 Atheropogon curtipendulus Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 138. 



1881. 



Culms i-3 tall, erect, simple, smooth and glabrous. 

 Sheaths shorter than the internodes ; ligule a ring of 

 short hairs; leaves z'-i2 r long, 2" wide or less, flat or 

 involute, rough, especially above; spikes numerous, 

 3"-8" long, widely spreading or reflexed ; spikelets 

 4-12, divergent from the rachis, 3tr"-5" long, scales 

 scabrous, especially on the keel, the first shorter than 

 or equalling the second ; the third 3-toothed, the nerves 

 extended into short awns ; rachilla bearing at the sum- 

 mit a small awned scale, or sometimes a larger 

 3-nerved scale, the nerves extended into awns ; anthers 

 vermilion or cinnabar-red. 



In dry soil, Connecticut to North Dakota and Wyoming, south to New Jersey, Tennessee, 

 Mississippi and Mexico. Side-oats Grama, Mesquite-grass. July-Sept. 



64. BECKMANNIA Host, Gram. Austr. 3: 5. pi. 6. 1805. 



A tall erect grass with flat leaf-blades and erect spikes borne in a terminal panicle. Spike- 

 lets i-2-flowered, globose, compressed. Scales 3 or 4; the 2 lower empty, membranous, sac- 

 cate, obtuse or abruptly acute ; the flowering scales narrow, thin-membranous ; palet hyaline, 

 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free, enclosed in 

 the scale and palet. [In honor of Johann Beckmann, 1739-1811, teacher of Natural History 

 at St. Petersburg.] 



A monotypic genus of the north temperate zone. Type 

 species : Phalaris erucaeformis L. 



i. Beckmannia erucaeformis (L.) Host. Beck- 

 mann's Grass. Slough-grass. Fig. 551. 



Phalaris erucaeformis L. Sp. PI. 55. 1753. 

 B. erucaeformis Host, Gram. Austr. 3: 5. 1805. 

 Beckmannia erucaeformis var. uniflora Scribn. ; Wats. & 

 Coult. in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 628. 1890. 



Glabrous, culms ii-3 tall, erect, simple, smooth. 

 Sheaths longer than the internodes, loose ; ligule 

 2"-4" long; blades 3' -9' long, 2"-4" wide, rough; 

 panicle 4'-io' in length, simple or compound, the 

 spikes about long; spikelets i"-i$" long, i-2-flow- 

 ered, closely imbricated in two rows on one side of 

 the rachis ; scales smooth, the outer saccate, obtuse or 

 abruptly acute ; flowering scales acute, the lower gen- 

 erally awn-pointed, the upper rarely present. 



In wet places, western Ontario to Alaska, south to Iowa, 

 Colorado and California. July-Sept. 



65. ELEUSINE Gaertn. Fruct. & Sem. i : 7. 

 pi. i. 1788. 



Tufted annual or perennial grasses, with flat leaf-blades and spicate inflorescence, the 

 spikes digitate or close together at the summit of the culm. Spikelets several-flowered, 

 sessile, closely imbricated in two rows on one side of the rachis, which is not extended 

 beyond them; flowers perfect or the upper staminate. Scales compressed, keeled; the 2 

 lower empty ; the others subtending flowers, or the upper empty. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. 

 Stigmas plumose. Grain loosely enclosed in the scale and palet. [From the Greek name of 

 the town where Ceres was worshipped.] 



Species 6, natives of the Old World. Besides the following, two others have been found in 

 ballast fillings about the eastern seaports. Type species : Cynosurus coracanus L. 



