ORAMINEJS. (GRASS FAMILY.) 545 



low the pointless apex. Stamen one, opposite the 1 -nerved upper palea ! Grain 

 linear-oblong, free. A perennial, rather sweet-scented grass, with simple ^and 

 upright somewhat reed-like culms (2 -7 high), bearing a large compound ter- 

 minal panicle, its branches in fours or fives, broadly linear-lanceolate flat leaves 

 (i'~i ; wide), and conspicuous ligules. Spikelets green, often purplish-tinged. 

 (Name unexplained.) 



1. C. arundiiiacea, L. Moist woods and shaded swamps; rather 

 common, both northward and southward. July, Aug. Panicle 6' -15' long, 

 rather dense ; the branches and pedicels spreading in flower, afterwards erect. 

 Spikelets 2^" -3" long. Awn of the palea either obsolete or exserted. 



Var. peudula. Panicle loose and more slender, the branches nearly 

 capillary and drooping in flower ; pedicels very rough ; glumes and pale* more 

 membranaceous, the former less unequal ; Spikelets 1^"- 2" long; upper palea 

 obtuse. (C. pendula, Trin. C. latifolia, Griseb. C. expansa, Link. Blyttia 

 suaveolens, Fries.) Deep damp woods, N. New York to Lake Superior and 

 northward, and on mountains southward. A northern, more delicate state of 

 the last, as is shown by intermediate specimens. (Upper palea as long as the 

 lower, but shorter, as figured in Anders. Gram. Scand., only not with 3 stamens, 

 but monandrous, both in American specimens and in Norwegian, given in Fries, 

 Herb. Norm.) (Eu.) 



1O. MUHLENBERGIA, Schreber. DROP-SEED GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in contracted or rarely open panicles. Glumes mostly 

 acute or bristle-pointed, persistent ; the lower rather smaller or minute. Flower 

 very short-stalked or sessile in the glumes ; the paleae usually hairy-bearded at 

 the base, herbaceous, deciduous with the enclosed grain, often equal ; the lower 

 3-nerved, mucronate or awned at the apex. Stamens 3. (Dedicated to the 

 Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, a distinguished American botanist. ) 



1. MUHLENBERGIA PROPER. Panicles contracted or generate, terminal 

 and axillary: perennials (in our species) with branching rigid culms, from scaly 

 creeping rootstocks : leaves short and narrow. 

 * Lower palea barely mucronate or sharp-pointed. (Sp. of China, Kunth, Trin.) 



1. M. SObolifera. Culms ascending (l-2high), sparingly branched ; 

 the simple contracted panicle very slender or filiform ; glumes barely pointed, almost 

 equal, % shorter than the equal palece ; lower palea abruptly short-mucronate. 

 (Agrostis sobolifera, MaTd.) Open rocky woods, Vermont to Michigan, Illi- 

 nois, and southward. Aug. Spikelets less than 1" long. 



2. HI. glomerata, Trin. Culms upright (l-2 high), sparingly 

 branched or simple ; panicle oblong-linear, contracted into an interrupted glomerate 

 spike, long-peduncled, the branches sessile ; glumes awned, nearly equal, and 

 (with the bristle-like awn) about twice the length of the unequal very acute 

 palea. (Agr. racemosa, Michx. A. setosa, Muhl. Polypogon racemosus, Nutt.) 

 Bogs, &c. ; common, especially northward. Aug. Panicle 2' -3' long. 



3. H. JJIexicana, Trin. Culms ascending, much branched (2 -3 

 high) ; panicles lateral and terminal, often included at the base, contracted, the 



46* 



