GRAMINEJS. (GRASS FAMILY.) 547 



12. CAliAftlAGROSTIS, Adans. REED BENT-GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, and often witli a pedicel or rudiment of a second abor- 

 tive flower, in an open or spiked panicle. Glumes keeled or boat-shaped, often 

 acute, commonly nearly equal, and exceeding- the flower, which is surrounded 

 at the base by a copious tuft of white bristly hairs. Paleas membranaceous, or 

 in the second and third sections of. a firmer texture; the lower bearing: a slender 

 awn on the back or below the tip, rarely awnless ; the upper mostly shorter. 

 Stamens 3. Grain free. Perennials, with running- rootstocks, and mostly tall 

 and simple rigid culms. (Name compounded of KaAnjuoy, a reed, and aypocrris, 

 a grass.) 



1. CALAMAGROSTIS PROPER. Flower, ^c. much as in Agrostis, except 

 the hairy tuft : the boat-shaped glumes and the palece membranaceous ; the former 

 equal or the lower one rather longer: lower pair a 3 - 5-nerved, awned on the back: 

 panicle open. (All the following have a rudimentary plumose pedicel of a second 

 flower.) 



* Glumes open or loose after flowering. 



1. C. Canadensis, Beauv. (BLUE JOINT-GRASS.) Panicle oblong, 

 loose (often purplish) ; lower palea nearly as long as the lanceolate acute glumes, 

 not exceeding the very fine hairs, bearing an extremely delicate awn below the middle 

 scarcely equalling or exceeding- the hairs ; rudimentary pedicel minute. (Arun- 

 do Canadensis, Michx. C. Mexicana, Nutt.) Wet grounds; common north- 

 ward, and southward along the Alleghanies. July. Rather glaucous, 3 - 5 

 high: leaves flat. Glumes rough, 1|" long. 



*= * Glumes closed in fruit. 



2. C. COllfilliS, Nutt. Panicle elongated, narrow (5' -8' long), the 

 branches appressed after flowering, pale ; lower palea. nearly equalling the oblong- 

 lanceolate acute glumes, longer than the hairs (excepting those of the conspicuous 

 rudiment), bearing between the middle and the base a rather stout and slightly cxserted 

 awn. (Ar. conh'nis, Willd. ! C. inexpansa, Gray.) Swamps, N. and W. New 

 York (especially Penn Yan, Sartwell) and Pennsylvania. July. Spikelets 

 rather larger than in the last; upper glume more or less shorter. 



3. C. COarctata, Torr. Panicle contracted, dense (3' -6' long); lower 

 palea shorter than the taper-pointed tips ofihe. lanceolate glumes, almost twice the length 

 of the hairs (excepting the strong tuft borne by the conspicuous rudiment), bear- 

 ing a rigid and exserted short awn above the. middle. (C. Canadensis, Nutt.) 

 Wet grounds, Mass, to Wisconsin? and (chiefly) southward. Aug. Culm 

 3- 5 high. Glumes 4" long. Grain hairy, crowned with a bearded tuft. 



4. C. Pickering 1 !!. Panicle dense and narrow (3' -5' long, purplish) ; 

 palea; nearly equal, rather shorter than the ovate-oblong merely acute glumes ; awn 

 inserted between the middle and the base, stout, often a little bent, not exceeding the 

 glumes ; hairs very short and scant//, I the length of the palea;, half as long as the 

 small plumose rudiment. Alpine region of the White Mountains of Ne\v 

 Hampshire; first collected by Dr. Pickering and Mr. Oakes. Sept. Culm 1 

 high. Spikelets smaller and glumes less pointed than in C. sylvati ra, DC., to 

 Which belongs C. purpurasceus, R. Br. ? Leaves short and flat. 



