546 GRAMIXE.tt. (CRASS FAMILY.} 



brandies den .dy tpiked-dustered, linear (green and purplish) ; rjlumesawnlfss, sharp 

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

 (Agi. Mvxieana, L. A. later! flora, Mir //,/-.) Varies with more slender pani- 

 cles (A. filii'urnus, J /"///*/.) Low grounds; eommon. Aug. 



* # Lower palea bristle-awncd from the tip : flowers shart-pedicetted. 

 4 yt. sylvatica, Torr. & Gr. Culms ascending, much hranrhed and 

 diffusely spreading (2 -4 long); contracted panicks drnscly inany-flo-< r.il; 

 glumes almost equal, bristle-pointed, nearly as long as the- lower palea, which bears an 

 awn twice or thriee the length of the spikelet. (Agr. dift'usa, Afn/t/.) Low or 

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



5. HI. Willftoliftvii, Trin. Culms upright (3 high), slender, simple or 

 sparingly branched; contracted panicle, slender, loosely /Ion-end; (jinnies sli</lit/y 

 unequal, si tort-pointed, half the length of the lower paka, which, bears an awn 3-4 

 times the length of the spikclet. (Agr. tenuiflora, Wilid.} Ilocky woods; 

 rather common. Aug. 



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

 fusely much branched (8' -18' high) ; contracted panides 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. (Dilepyrum 

 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. TRICIlOCIILOA, DC. Panicle very loose and'open, the lony branches and 

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



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

 high) from a fibrous (perennial 1 ?) root; panicle capillary, expanding (6' -20' 

 long, purple) ; glumes unequal, i to ^ the length of the long-awned palcce, the 

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

 Kew England to New Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. Aug. Pedicels 1' 

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



11. BRACHYELYTRUM, Beauv. BRACK TELYTRUM. 



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

 flower about half its length, nearly terete, few, in a simple appresscd racemed 

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

 than the width of the thick stalk of the flower. Paleaj 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-pointed ; 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 (1-3 C high) from creeping rootstocks, downy sheaths, broad and 

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

 Composed of /Spa^s, short, and e'Xvrpoi/, husk, from the very short glumes.) 



1. 15. :n isl;f linn, Beauv. (Muhlenbergia erecta/ Schreb. Dilcpyrun) 

 "Tistosum, MirAr.) Rocky woods ; rather common. June. 



