GENUS 97. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



267 



97. PUCCINELLIA Parl. Fl. Ital. i : 366. 1848. 



Perennial grasses, with flat or involute leaf-blades and contracted or open panicles. 

 Spikelets 3-several-flowered. Lower scales empty, obtuse or acute, unequal; flowering scales 

 obtuse or acute, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, the nerves very obscure or almost wanting. 

 Palet about equalling the scale. Stamens 3. Styles wanting. Stigmas sessile, simply plumose. 

 Grain compressed, usually adhering to the palet. [Name in honor of Benedetto Purcinelli, 

 Italian botanist.] 



About 14 species, in all temperate regions. Type species: Poa distans L. 



Flowering scales iJ4" long or more; plants stoloniferous. 



Lower flowering scales i l / 2 "-2" long; spikelets commonly 4-many-flowered. i. P. maritima. 

 Lower flowering scales not exceeding i l / 2 " long, usually less; spikelets generally 2-4-flowered. 



2. P. angustata. 

 Flowering scales less than iJ4" long; plants without stolons. 



Second empty scale less than one-half as long as the first flowering scale, broad, usually obtuse 



or truncate. 

 Panicle-branches naked below, spikelet-bearing toward the apex ; flowering scales i" long or 



less, truncate at the apex. 3. P. distans. 



Panicle-branches spikelet-bearing to the base; flowering scales i"-iJ4" long, acutish or 

 obtuse at the apex. 4. P. fasciculata. 



Second empty scale more than one-half as long as the first flowering scale, usually narrow, obtuse 

 or acute. 5. P. airoides. 



\. A 



i. Puccinellia maritima (Huds.) Parl. 



Goose-grass. Sea Spear-grass. 



Fig. 643. 



Poa maritima Huds. Fl. Angl. 35. 1762. 

 Glyceria maritima M. & K. Deutsch. Fl. i : 588. 



1823. 

 Puccinellia maritima Parl. Fl. Ital. i: 370. 1848. 



Stoloniferous, smooth, glabrous, culms 6'-2 

 tall, erect, or decumbent at the base, simple. 

 Sheaths usually exceeding the internodes; 

 ligule \"-\" long; blades \'-$' long, i" wide 

 or less, flat to involute ; panicle 2'-6' in length, 

 open, the branches ascending, or rarely erect, 

 i '-2' long; spikelets 3-io-flowered, 3"-6" long; 

 empty scales unequal, the first usually i-nerved, 

 the second 3-nerved; flowering scales ii"-2" 

 long, broad, obtuse or truncate. 



In salt marshes and on sea beaches, Nova Scotia 

 to Rhode Island. Also on the Pacific coast, and 

 on the coasts of Europe and Asia. Sea Meadow- 

 grass. July-Aug. 



2. Puccinellia angustata (R. Br.) Nash. 

 Arctic Meadow-grass. Fig. 644. 



Poa angustata R. Br. App. Parry's Voy. 287. 1824. 

 Panicularia angustata Scribn. Mem. Torn Club 5 : 54. 



1804. 

 Puccinellia maritima var. minor S. Wats, in A. Gray, 



Man. Ed. 6, 668. 1890. 

 P. angustata Nash, Bull. Torn Club 22.: 512. 1895. 



Smooth and glabrous, culms 4/-I2' tall, erect, 

 simple. Sheaths usually overlapping; ligule i" 

 long; blades i'-2$' long, i" wide or less; panicle 

 i '-2' in length, contracted, the branches short and 

 erect or appressed ; spikelets 2-7-flowered, 3"~4" 

 long; empty scales obtuse or rounded at the apex, 

 the first i-nerved, the second 3-nerved; flowering 

 scales ij"-i$" long, usually purplish, rounded at 

 the apex. 



Greenland and Hudson Bay to Alaska, south to Con- 

 necticut. Also in Europe and Asia. Summer. 



