562 (;u. \MI\K.K. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



** +* Flowers (oblong-lanceolate) and both glnmrs acute: p:tnide narrow. 



5. P. lls6de. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the uppermost 

 (2^' -4' long) often sheathing the base of the panicle, the capillary branches of 

 which are apprcssed when young, and mostly in threes or fours; spikelets 3- 

 flowcred (pale green, soft) ; lower palea very obscurely nerved, villous on the 

 keel below, and with a narrow cobwebby tuft at its base, otherwise glabrous. 

 (P. nemoralis, Torr. fr ed 1 : but wholly different from the European species of 

 that name.) Woods, on hill-sides, New England to Wisconsin. May, June. 

 *- 1- H- Branches of the rather narrow but loose long-prdunc/cd panicle in threes or 



Jives, or rarely in pairs, short or shortish, above bearing scattered and rather few 

 spikelets ; these barely 2" lone/, pale green, rather loosely 2 - 4- flowered : flowers 

 (oblong) and glumes obtuse ; lower palea scarcely scarious-tipped : plant very smooth, 

 slender (l^-3 high) : calm-leaves lance-linear, acute, 1% -3' long, soft. 



6. P. debilis, Torr. Culm terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 slender (the lower lj' -2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes; flowers 

 very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at their base. Rocky 

 woodlands, Rhode Island and N. New York to Wisconsin. May. 



7. P. sylveStris. Culmflattish, erect; branches of the oblong-pyramidal 

 panicle short, in lives or more ; lower palea villous on the keel for its u-hole length, 

 and on the margins below the middle, sparingly webbed at the base. Rocky woods 

 and meadows, Ohio to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and southward. June. 



I- - - -H- Branches of the narrow or oblong panicle mostly short, in Jives or- some- 

 times in twos and threes, rough, mostly compound and bearing very numerous closely- 

 flowered spikelets : flowers acute or acutish, more or less webbed at the base. 



++ Panicle open, its branches in Jives : the 3 - 5-flowered spikelets all distinctly pedicelled, 

 acute, slightly flattened ; lower palea villous or pubescent on the keel and marginal 

 nerves, the intermediate nerves obsolete: culms erect (2- 3 high), terete, growing 

 in tufts, not at all stoloniferous at the base. 



8. P. scrotiiia, Ehrhart. (FALSE RED-TOP. FOWL MEADOW-GRASS.) 

 Leaves narrowly linear; ligules elongated ; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (!"- 

 2" long) ; floivcrs acutish, green, often tinged with dull purple. (P. nemoralis, 

 Pursh. P. crocata, Michx. belongs to this or the next.) Wet meadows and 

 low banks of streams ; common everywhere northward. July, Aug. A good 

 grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



9. P. liemorillis, L. Leaves linear; ligules obsolete or very short ; spike- 

 lets 4:-5-flowered, rather larger, and the flowers and glumes more sharply acute and 

 narrower ; otherwise nearly as in the preceding, which is too nearly related to 

 it. Wisconsin (l^tpliam), and northward. (Eu.) 



* -W- Panicle with the flattened spikdets crowded on the branches, mostly short-pcdi- 

 celled, soiiH'/imcx alni'*t sessile : culms stoloniferous at the base, except in No. 10. 



10. P. TKIVIALIS, L. (ROUGH MEADOW-GRASS.) Culms (l-3 high) 

 and sheaths usua/lij mllur rongli ; branches of the pyramidal diffuse panicle mostly 

 in fives ; spikelets 3-5-flowered ; flou-crs acute, j>rom inently 5-nwcd, a little hairy 

 on the keel, otherwise glabrous; lif/ul<.- a<-nic, allonq. Moist meadows; less 

 common and h>s valuable than the next. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



