564 GRAMINE^E. (GIIASS FAMILY.) 



3. E. PIL6SA, Beauv. Panicle elongated-oblong, with ruther erect branches 

 (except at flowering-time) ; spikdtts 5 -12-flowered (2" -4" long, purplish-lcad- 

 color), becoming linear, about equalling their pedicels ; glumes (small) and lower 

 palea obtuse, the latter broadly ovate, I -nerved (lateral nerves obsolete). (P. pilo- 

 sa, L. P. Linkii, Kunth.) Sandy or gravelly waste places, S. New England 

 to Illinois, and southward. Aug. Plant 6' - 12' high. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. E. Fninkii, Meyer. Much branched, diffuse (3' -8' high); panicle 

 ovate-oblong, rather dense, spreading; spikelets 2 - 5-flowered (!"-!" long) on 

 slender pedicels; glumes very acute; lower palea ovate, acute, rather obscurely 3- 

 nerved. (E. erythrogona, Nees, from the joints of the culm being mostly red- 

 dish.) Low or sandy ground, Ohio to Illinois (opposite St. Louis, Drummond, 

 Engelmann), and southwest ward. Aug. 



5. E. Piirshii, (Benin.?) Schrad. Sparingly branched at the decum- 

 bent base, then erect (^- 2 high); panicle elongated, the branches widely 

 spreading, very loose; spikelets 5-18-flowcred, oblong-lanceolate, becoming 

 linear (2"-4|-" long), mostly much shorter than their capillary pedicels ; glumes and 

 loivcr palea ovate and acute, or the latter acutish, 3-nerved. (Poa tenella? Pursh. 

 P. Caroliniana, Spreng. P. pectinacea of authors, not of Michx.) Sandy or 

 sterile open grounds, New Jersey to Virginia, and southward. 



+- - Culms simple or branching only at the very base, firm, erect, from an annual or 

 jierennial root, mostly forming thick tufts: leaves very long : panicle very large, com- 

 pound, often longer than the culm, tvith elongated and loosely flowered branches ; their 

 axils often bearded. 



6. E. ti'' 111! IS. Panicle virgately elongated (l-2 long), very loose, the 

 spreading branches bearded in some of the lower axils, their remote divisions 

 and long diverging pedicels capillary; spikelets 2-6- (sometimes 7 -12-) flow- 

 ered, pale or greenish ; glumes lanceolate or awl-shaped, very acute (l"-2" long), 

 membranaceous, as are the oblong-lanceolate acute flowers : lower palea distinctly 3- 

 nerved; the upper ciliate-scabrous. TJ.7 (Poa tenuis, Ell. P. capillaris, Mirhs. 

 P. trichodes, Nutt. E. Geyeri, Steud.) Sandy soil, Illinois, Virginia? and 

 southward. Aug. -Oct. Leaves rather rigid, l-2 long, glabrous or spar- 

 ingly hairy : the sheaths hairy or glabrous ; the throat strongly bearded. Flow- 

 ers much larger than in the next, fully l" long. 



7. E. C.lpillikl'is, Necs. Panicle widely expanding, usually much longer 

 than the culm, its spreading branches (mostly naked in the axils) and long 

 diwgiiig pedicels capillary; spikelets rather terete, very small, 2-4-nVv. 

 greenish or purplish ; g&onet a nd flowers ovate, acute (less than 1'' long) ; lower 

 ptilea obscurely 3-nerved, scarcely keeled, the upper rough-ciliate. (j (Poa capil- 

 laris, L. P. hirsuta, Michx.) Sandy dry soil and fields; common, especially 

 southward. Aug., Sept. Leaves and sheaths either very hairy or nearly gla- 

 brous, the former about 1 long, not rigid. Panicle l-2 long, becoming very 

 wide and difl'use. 



8. E. pectillflCCa. Panicle, widely diffuse, its rigid divergent main 

 branches bearded in the a.iv'/s ; the c<t/>i//<in/ )><(!/'<; /.> i,,<>r<' or It si n/yin-nmd on the 

 secondary branches; spik<l<ts flat, 5 - 15-ilowea <1, becoming linear, purple or 

 purplitth-tinged ; glumes and flowers ovate or oblong-ovate, acutish ; lower palea 



