Ni-:.ffi. (GRASS FAMILY.) 573 



acutely 2-c>ft tip proceeding from the mid-nerve only. Stamens 3. Grain 

 oblong-linear, grooved on one side, usually hairy, free, but invested by the upper 

 palea. (The classical Latin name.) 

 1. AVENASTRUM, Koch. Spikelets rather small, several-flowered; the 



flowers remotish : glumes I- and 3-nerued ; lower palea about 7 -nerved : root 



perennial. 



1. A. Strifita, Michx. Culms tufted, slender (l-2high); leaves nar- 

 row ; panicle simple, loose, drooping with age ; the few 3 - 5-flowered spikeleta 

 on rough capillary peclicek;, much longer than the very unequal purple glumes; 

 lower palea with a short bearded tuft at the base, much longer than the ciliate- 

 fringed upper one (' long), bearing a long straightish awn just below the taper- 

 ing very sharply cuspidate 2-clef't tip. (Trisctum purpurascens, Ton.) Rocky, 

 shaded hills, N. New England, New York, and northward. June. 



$ 2. AIRCJPSIS, Desv., Fries. Spikelets very small, of 2 closely approximate 

 flowers, and with no rudiment of a third: glumes 1-nerved: lower palea obscurely 

 3-5-nerved: root annual. (Forms a genus intermediate between Aira and 

 Avena, here appended to the latter for convenience.) 



2. A. PR^COX, Bcauv. Dwarf (3' -4' high), tufted; leaves short, bristle- 

 shaped; branches of the small oblong panicle appressed; awn from below the 

 middle of the flower. (Aira praicox, L.) Sandy fields, New Jersey to Vir- 

 ginia : rare. (Nat. from Eu.) See Addend. 



A. SATIVA, L., the COMMON OAT, belongs to the section with annual roots, 

 and long, 7 - 9-nerved glumes. 



51. ARRIIENATHERUItt, Beauv. OAT-GRASS. 



Spikelets open-panicled, 2-flowered, with the rudiment of a third flower; the 

 middle flower perfect, with its lower palea barely bristle-pointed from- near the 

 tip ; the lowest flower staminate only, bearing a long bent awn below the mid- 

 dle of the back (whence the name, from npp'f/f, masculine, and d$jjp, awn) : 

 otherwise as in Avena, of which it is only a peculiar modification. 



1. A. AVEN\CEUM, Bcauv. Leaves broad, flat ; panicle elongated (8'- 10' 

 long) ; glumes scarious, very unequal. 1J. (Avena elatior, L.) Meadows and 

 lots ; scarce : absurdly called Grass of the Andes. May- July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



52. 1IOL.CUS, L. (partly). MEADOW SOFT-GRASS. 



Spikelets crowded in an open panicle, 2-flowered, jointed with the pedicels ; 

 the boat-shaped mcmbranaeeous glumes enclosing and much exceeding the re- 

 motish flowers. Lower flower perfect, but its papery or thin-coriaceous lower 

 palea awnless and pointless ; the upper flower staminate only, otherwise similar, 

 but bearing a stout bent awn below the apex. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to 

 the base. Grain free, scarcely grooved. (An ancient name, from oXxos, draught, 

 of obscure application. ) 



1. H. LAN\TUS, L. (VELVET-GRASS.) Soft-downy, pale ; panicle oblong 

 (l'-4' long) ; upper glume mucronate-awned under the apex ; awn of tiie stam- 

 inate flower recurved. 1|. Moist meadows ; scarce. June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



