560 GRAMINEJS. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



lower palea entire ; leaves large (l-2 long, J' to ' wide). Wet meadows, 

 &c. ; common northward. July. Culm stout, upright, 3 -5 high. (Eu.) 



# # # Spikelets linear ('-!' long), terete, pale, oppressed on tlie, branches of the 

 long and narrow racemose panicle: palca> minutely roughish ; the upper %-tootked : 

 stamens 3: suuamuUt unilateral or united: liyule lony : culm flattened, ascending 

 from a rooting base. (Glycerin, R. Brown.) 



7. O. flllitans, R. Brown. Spikelets 7-13-flowcred ; lower palea' Mono, 

 obtuse, or the scarious tip aeutish, entire or obscurely 3-lobed, usually rather 

 longer than the blunt upper one. (G. plicata, Frits.) Shallow water; com- 

 mon, especially northward. June - Aug. Culm thickish, 1 - 5 long. Leaves 

 short and rather broad, very smooth. Panicle 1 long : the simple branches 

 appressed, finally spreading below. (Eu.) 



.8. G. aciltiflora, Torr. Spikelets 5-12-flowered, few and scattered; 

 lower pal (a oblong-lanceolate, acute, shorter than the long tapering point of the U/IJHT 

 one. Wet places, Penn. to New England ; rather rare. June. Resembles 

 the last; but the erect leaves smaller, the separate flowers twice the length (' 

 long) and less nerved. 



$ 2. IIELE(3CHLOA, Fries. (Sclcrochloa, ed. 1.) Lower palea inconspicuously 

 or obsoltte.li/ 5-nerved : stigmas nearly sessile and simply plumose: grain hardly 

 grooved : saline species : panicle contracted with age. 



9. O. maritillia, Wahl. (SEA SPEAR-GRASS.) Sterile shoots procum- 

 bent runner-like; flowering culms erect (1-1^ high); branches of the panicle 

 solitary or in pairs ; spikelets oblong or linear, 4 - 8-flowered ; lower palea round- 

 ed at the summit, slightly pubescent towards the base ; leaves somewhat invo- 

 lute; ligule elongated. (Poa maritima, Huds.) Sea-coast; not rare. (Eu.) 



10. O. d is tans, Wahl. Culms genicnlate at the base, ascending, des- 

 titute of running shoots; branches of the panicle 3-5 in a half whorl, spreading; 

 spikelets 3 - G-flowered ; lower palea truncate-obtuse ; leaves mostly flat; ligule 

 short. (P. fasciculata, Torr. P. distans, L. P. arenaria, Retz.) Salt marsh- 

 es along the coast. Probably only a form of the last. (Eu.) 



32. BRIZOPYRUM, Link. SPIKE-GRASS. 



Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or 

 capitate panicle. Glumes herbaceous or membranaceous ; the lower faintly 

 many-nerved. Lower palea rather coriaceous, flattcned-boat-shaped, indistinctly - 

 many-nerved, acute. Ovary stalked. Flowers mostly dioecious, pretty largo. 

 Leaves crowded on the culms, involute, commonly rigid. (Name compounded 

 of Briza (No. 35), and Trvpos, wheat.) 



1. It. SpiCtttlim, Hook. Culms tufted, from creeping rootstorks (9'- 

 18' high); spike oblong, flattened (L' long); spikelets ovate or oblong, 5- 10- 

 flowered ; flowers smooth and naked ; grain pointed. (Uniola spicata, L. Poa 

 Mirhauxii, Kunth.) Salt marshes and shores. Aug. Pistillate flowers more 

 rigid and almost keeled, with very long plumose stigmas; the sterile smaller 

 and somewhat rounded on the back. 



