646 GRAMIXEvE. (GRAS FAMILY.} 



branches densely spiked-clustered, linear (green and purplish) ; <jl nines awnlcss, sharp- 

 pointed, unequal, the upper about the length of the very acute lower paleu. 

 (Agr." Mexicuna, L. A. lateriflora, Mic/tx.) Varies with more slender pani- 

 cles (A. tiliformis, J/A/.) Low grounds; common. Aug. 



# # Lower palea bristle-awned from the tip : flowers short-jtedicelled. 



4. IWT. sylvatica, Torr. & Gr. Culms ascending, much branched and 

 diffusely sj)reading (2 4 long) ; contracted panicles densely many -flowered ; 

 glumes almost equal, bristle-pointed, nearly as long as the lower paba, which hears an 

 awn twice or thrice the length of the spikelet. (Agr. diffusa, Mulil.) Low or 

 rocky woods ; rather common. Aug., Sept. Aspect between No. 3 and No. 5. 



5. M. Willdenovii, Trin. Culms upright (3 high), slender, simple or 

 sparingly branched ; contracted panicle slender, loosely flowered ; glumes sliyldly 

 unequal, short-pointed, half the length of the lower palea, which bears an awn 3 -4 

 times the length of the spikelet. (Agr. tenuiflora, Willd.) liocky woods; 

 rather common. Aug. 



6. M. clifTusa, Schreber. (DROP-SEED. NIMBLE WILL.) Culms dif- 

 fusely much branched (8' -18' high) ; contracted panicl.es slender, rather loosely 

 many-flowered, terminal and lateral ; glumes extremely minute, the lower obsolete, 

 the upper truncate ; awn once or twice longer than the palea. (Dilepyrtim 

 minutiflorum, Michx.) Dry hills and woods, from S. New England to Michi- 

 gan, Illinois, and southward. Aug., Sept. Spikelets much smaller than in the 

 foregoing, 1" long. 



$ 2. TRICH6CHLOA, DC. Panicle very loose and open, the long branches and 

 pedicels capillary : leaves narrow, often convolute-bristle-form. 



7. HI. capillaris, Kunth. (HAIR-GRASS.) Culm simple, upright (2 

 high) from a fibrous (perennial?) root; panicle capillary, expanding (6' -20' 

 long, purple) ; glumes unequal, J to ^ the length of the long-awned paleze, the 

 lower mostly pointless, the upper more or less bristle-pointed. Sandy soil, W. 

 New England to New Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. Aug. Pedicels V - 

 2' long, scarcely thicker than the awns, which are about 1' long. 



11. BRACHYELYTRUM, Beauv. BRACHYELYTRUM. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, with a conspicuous filiform pedicel of an abortive second 

 flower about half its length, nearly terete, few, in a simple appresscd rat-emcd 

 panicle. Lower glume obsolete ; the upper minute, pointless, persistent, shorter 

 than the width of the thick stalk of the flower. Palece chartaceo-herbaceous, in- 

 volute, enclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough with scattered 

 short bristles ; the lower 5-nerved, contracted at the apex into a long straight 

 awn ; the upper 2-pointcd ; the awn-like sterile pedicel partly lodged in the groove 

 on its back. Stamens 2 : anthers and stigmas very long. A perennial grass, with 

 simple culms (l-3 high) from creeping rootstoeks, downy sheaths, broad and 

 flat lanceolate pointed leaves, and large spikelets ' long without the awn. (Name 

 composed of ftpaxys, short, and eXvrpoi/, husk, from the very short glumes.) 



1. B. arisfatllin, Beauv. (Muhlenbergia crecta, &:hi\b. Dilepyrum 

 aristosum, Michx.) Rocky woods; rather common. June. 



