GRAMIXEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 535 



131. C. olig-OSpersBia, Miehx. Sterile spikes 1-2, slender; fertile 

 spikes 1-2, short, ovoid, few-flowered, the lower on a very short stalk; perigynia 

 ovoid, tapering into a short minutely toothed beak, not much longer than the 

 ovate awnless scale ; culm very slender ; leaves and bracts linear, at length involute. 

 (C. Oakesiana, Dew.) Borders of lakes and ponds, especially on mountains, 

 New England, N. New York, Wisconsin, and northward. 



132. C. longirdstris, Torr. Sterile spikes usually 3, at the summit of 

 a long slender stalk ; the lower often bearing some fertile flowers ; fertile spikes 

 2-3, cylindrical, more or less distant, on long filiform at length drooping stalks, 

 loosely flowered ; perigynia globose-ovoid, smooth and shining, abruptly contracted 

 into a very long and narrow beak, which is rough on the margin, oblique and 2- 

 cleft at the membranaceous orifice, a little longer than the lanceolate light-colored 

 or white scale. (C. Sprengelii, Dew.) Shady rocks, N. New England to Wis- 

 consin, and northward. Though agreeing with the species of this section in the 

 numerous staminate spikes and the long-beaked fruit, this plant is perhaps aa 

 nearly allied to No. 97. 



ORDER 134. GRAMINE-ZE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



Grasses, with usually hollow stems (culms) closed at the joints, alternate 2- 

 ranked leaves, their sheaths split or open on the side opposite the blade ; the 

 hypoyynous flowers imbricated, witli ^-ranked glumes or bracts : the outer pair 

 (glumes proper, calyx, L.) subtending the spikelet of one or several flow- 

 ers ; the inner pair (palece, outer perianth, R. Br.) enclosing each partic- 

 ular flower, which is usually furnished with 2 or 3 minute hypogynoua 

 scales (squamulce, Juss., corolla, Micheli, lodiculce, Beauv.). Stamens 1-6, 

 commonly 3 : anthers versatile, 2-celled, the cells distinct. Styles mostly 

 2 or 2-parted : stigmas hairy or feathery. Ovary 1 -celled, 1-ovuled, form- 

 ing a seed-like grain (caryopxis) in fruit. Embryo small, on the outside 

 and at the base of the floury albumen. Roots fibrous. Sheath of the 

 leaves usually more or less extended above the base of the blade into a 

 scarious appendage (ligule). Spikelets panicled or spiked. Inner (upper) 

 palea usually 2-nerved or 2-keeled, therefore probably consisting of two 

 united. A vast and most important family, as it furnishes the cereal 

 grains, and the principal food of cattle, &c. 



Synopsis. 



TRIBE I. POACEJE, R. Brown. Spikelets 1 - many-flowered, when more than on- 

 flowered centripetal in development ; the lowest flowers first developing, the uppermost^ 

 if any, imperfect or abortive, the rest all alike in the spikelet (perfect, or occasionally 

 monoecious or dioecious) ; only in a few exceptional cases with the lowest of the several 

 flowers less perfect than the upper (viz. stammute only in Arrhenatherum and Phrag- 

 mites, neutral in Uniola, Ctenium, &c.). 



Subtribe 1. ORIZE.. Spikelets 1-flowered, in panicles, the flowers often monoecious. 

 Glumes abortive or wanting! Inner paleoe 3-nerved ! Squamulfe 2 Stamens 1-6. 



1. LEERSIA. Flowers perfect, strongly flattened contrary to the awnless palese 



2. ZIZANIA. Flowers monoecious. 1'aleae convex ; the lower one awned in the fertile flowers. 



