262 GRAMINE^E. Isduemwm. 



1. I. leersioides, Munro. Culms slender, a foot high or more, roughened and 

 bearded at least at the upper nodes : leaves narrowly linear, the lower 3 or 4 inches 

 long, the upper shorter, and uppermost with little or no blade, scabrous above and 

 strongly ciliate near the base, the point subcartilaginous ; ligule very short, trun- 

 cate ; sheaths scariously margined, very loose, mostly much shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, crowded below : spikes 1 to 4, about an inch long, solitary on slender 

 pubescent peduncles (4 to 6 inches long) from the upper sheaths, unilateral, erect or 

 somewhat curved ; joints of the rhachis strongly concavo-convex, smooth or very 

 minutely pubescent : sessile spikelets loosely imbricate, about 1J lines long, the 

 broad outer glume somewhat obtuse, 9-nerved, the stout marginal nerves conspicu- 

 ously ciliate with long spreading bristles ; upper glume shorter, acute, broadly 2-nerved, 

 carinate in the middle ; sterile spikelet nearly a half shorter, of a single closely con- 

 volute glume : awns none. Proc. Am. Acad. iv. 363. 



Collected in San Francisco, near a Chinese warehouse, Bolander. A native of southern China, 

 evidently introduced, but whether it has become naturalized is not known, it is near /. pccti- 

 natum, Trin., which has much longer spikes and larger spikelets, with the lower glume winged 

 as well as fringed. Our grass is apparently an annual. 



6. LEERSIA, Soland. FALSE-RICE. 



Panicle loose, its base often enclosed by the upper sheath. Spikelets much flat- 

 tened, more or less crowded and overlapping one another, awnless, jointed with the 

 pedicels, one-flowered. Glumes none. Palets hard, strongly flattened laterally, 

 fringed on the keel with bristly hairs; the upper 1 -nerved, the lower as long but 

 much broader, 3-nerved, enclosing the flattened grain. Stamens 1, 3, or 6. Ovary 

 smooth : styles short ; stigmas feathery with branching hairs. 



A small genus of perennial marsh grasses, mostly American, with a few species in the tem- 

 perate and warmer portions of the Old World and in Australia ; five species are found in the 

 Eastern States, of which but one occurs on the Pacific. The leaves and sheaths are very rough. 

 The spikelets upon the loose portion of the panicle are usually sterile, the ovary in these being 

 abortive, while those enclosed by the sheaths are fertile. Closely related to the cultivated Rice 

 (Oryza) and to the Wild- Rice (Zizania), but of no agricultural value. 



1. L. oryzoides, Swartz. (EiCE CUT-GRASS.) Culms 2 or 3 feet high, hairy 

 at the joints : leaves long, flat, spreading, ^ inch or more wide and, with the sheaths, 

 very rough upward : panicle much branched, spreading, 6 to 8 inches long ; spike- 

 lets 2 1 to 3 lines long, pale green : stamens 3. Eeichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. t. 181. 



Lake County (Bolander), who regards it as introduced, though it is indigenous to Oregon. 

 Very common in the Atlantic States in wet places, where it is known by several common names 

 besides the above, as Cut-grass, White-grass, and in the Southern States as "Rice's Cousin." 



7. PHLEUM, Linn. CAT'S-TAIL GRASS. TIMOTHY. 



Panicle dense and spike-like, ovoid or cylindrical. Spikelets much compressed 

 laterally, flat, 1-flowered (rarely in some exotic species with the rudiment of a second 

 flower). Glumes boat-shaped, equal, keeled, mucronate or short-awned. Floret 

 shorter than the glumes. Lower palet very thin, truncate, sometimes with a minute 

 awn at base, usually awnless ; the upper equalling the lower. Scales 2, hyaline, 

 toothed above. Stamens 3. Ovary smooth : styles long, distinct ; stigmas slender, 

 hairy. Grain compressed, enclosed in the palets. 



A genus of about ten perennial and annual species in the temperate and arctic portions of both 

 hemispheres, and best known through its cultivated representative P. pratcnse. The other species 

 have the same harsh feeling when the spike is handled that is characteristic of this. 



1. P. pratense, Linn. Culms from a perennial root, 1 to 3 feet high or 

 more, becoming bulbous at base: leaves short, flat, rough on the edges; sheaths 



