Phragmites. GRAMINE^E. 299 



flowers, the lower 1-nerved, the broader upper one 3-nerved. Florets pedicelled, the 

 lower one perfect, the upper staminate with a short bent awn just below the apex. 

 Palets subcoriaceous, the lower 5-uerved. Scales 2, oblique and pointed. Stamens 

 3. Ovary smooth ; stigmas sessile, feathery. Grain flattened, smooth, free. 



An Old-World genus of about half a dozen species, one of which is widely naturalized. 



1. H. lanatUS, Linn. (MEADOW SOFT-GRASS.) Culms from a perennial creeping 

 rootstock, 1 to 2 feet high, the whole plant with a soft velvety pubescence which 

 gives it a whitish color : leaves flat, soft, the upper sheaths inflated : panicle 2 to 5 

 inches long, pale and sometimes reddish, the branches in twos or threes ; spikelets 

 2 lines long : upper glume with a slight point or awn near the tip : lower palet of 

 perfect floret smooth and shining, that of the upper one thinner, its awn enclosed by 

 the glumes. Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. i. 18, t. 97. 



Introduced and naturalized around settlements in various parts of the State, and quite con- 

 spicuous from its pale color. Common in the Eastern States in meadows, along roadsides, etc. 

 Of very little value, though sometimes cultivated in Europe where better grasses will not grow. 

 Its companion species, H. mollis, Linn., by some regarded as a variety, is barely naturalized in 

 New York State ; it is more slender, less downy, but conspicuously so at the joints ; the glumes 

 are more acute and the awn of the upper floret projects beyond them. 



38. LAMARCKIA, Moench. 



Panicle short, spike-like, secund, with both fertile and sterile spikelets intermixed 

 in small clusters. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, the lower perfect, stipitate, the other 

 long-pedicelled, rudimentary, awned. Glumes lanceolate-subulate, about equalling 

 the spikelet. Perfect floret with a 5-nerved lower palet bearing a slender awn near 

 the apex. Stamens 3. Styles short ; stigmatic hairs remote. Sterile spikelets with 

 acute glumes and numerous broadly obtuse or truncate loosely imbricated palets. 



A genus of a single species, a native of the Mediterranean region and found in Australia. 



1. L. aurea, Moench. A tufted annual, 3 to 6 inches high, its lower leaves 

 crowded, the usually short upper one with a very conspicuous acute often bifid ligule 

 4 lines long : panicle very dense, often half of the height of the culm, yellowish or 

 light brownish : fertile floret about 2 lines long, with an awn equalling or exceeding 

 it in length : sterile spikelets 4 or 5 lines long, of 10 or more scarious palets, the 

 upper edge of which is sometimes erose. Kunth, Enum. i. 389, and Suppl. 324 ; 

 Nees, Gen. t. 77. Chrysurus aitreus, Beauv. ; Eeichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. t. 149. 



Colorado Desert, Parry & Lemmon. This elegant little grass was not known on this continent 

 before its discovery as above in 1876. It has twice been found in Australia, but Bentham refers 

 its occurrence there to accident or to cultivation. Dr. Parry writes that it was found where one 

 would hardly expect an introduced grass, yet he thinks it may have been accidentally brought in. 



39. PHRAGMITES, Trin. REED. 



Panicle large, much branched and terminal. Spikelets 3 - 7-flowered, the lowest 

 staminate only, 1 3-androus, the others perfect. Florets somewhat distant, sepa- 

 rated by joints of the rhachis which bear long silky hairs enveloping the florets, 

 except the lower, which is naked. Glumes membranous, shorter than the florets, 

 keeled, sharp-pointed and very unequal. Lower palet membranous, long-acuminate, 

 entire and 3-nerved, thrice as long as the upper. Stamens 3. Scales 2, very large, 

 obtuse. Ovary smooth : styles short, plumose above with simple hairs. Grain 

 oblong, loosely invested by the palets. 



A genus of about 5 species, separated from Aruiido on account of its staminate lower floret ; by 

 some it is placed near Calainagrostis. 



