566 GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



Var. d ii'irtsciiln. Taller; panicle more open or compound; leaves 

 flat, b( coming convolute; spikelets 4 - 8-flowered. (F. duriuscula, L.) N. 

 New England and northward. Also sparingly naturalized from Europe in dry 

 pastures eastward. June. 



* * Flowers awnlcss and mostly almost pointless : panicle open : grain often free 1 



3. F. ELA.TIOR, L. (in part). Panicle contracted before and after flowering, 

 erect, with short branches; spikelets crowded, 5- 10-flowered (about ' long) ; the 

 flowers rather remote, oblong-lanceolate; leaves flat; culms l-4 high from a 

 short creeping rootstock. 1J. (F. pratensis, Hnds.) Moist meadows and near 

 dwellings. June. A pretty good meadow-grass. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. P. iiiituiiS, Willd. Panicle of several long and slender spreading branch- 

 es, mostly in pairs, drooping when old, rough, bearing near their extremity a few 

 ovate 3-5-flowered spikelets (% long) on pretty long pedicels ; flowers ovate- 

 oblong, rather obtuse, close together, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 5-nerved. 

 1|. Rocky woods and copses. July.. Culm 2 -4 high, naked above: 

 leaves broadly linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often rather hairy. 



37. B ROM US, L. BROME-GRASS. 



Spikelets 5 - many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous., 

 the lower 1 - 5-, the upper 3 - 9-nerved. Lower palea either convex on the back 

 or compressed-keeled, 5 -9-nerved, awned or bristle-pointed from below the 

 mostly 2-cleft tip : upper palea at length adhering to the groove of the oblong 

 or linear grain. Stamens 3. Styles attached below the apex of the ovary. 

 Coarse grasses, with large spikelets, at length drooping, on pedicels thickened 

 at the apex. (An ancient name for the Oat, from /3po/xos, food.) 



$ 1. EUBROMUS. Lower palea convex on the back; the flowers imbricated over 



one another before expansion : lower glume 3 - 5-, the upper 5 - 9-nerved. 



# Annuals or biennials : introduced. 



1. B* SECALixus, L. .(CHEAT or CHESS.) Panicle spreading, even in fruit, 

 the drooping peduncles but little branched ; spikelets oblong-ovate, turgid, smooth, of 

 8 -10 rather distant flowers ; lower palea rather longer than the upper, its awn short, 

 sometimes very short or none ; sheaths nearly glabrous. Grain-fields, too com- 

 mon : also escaped into barren or waste grounds. June, July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. B. RACEM6sus, L. (UPRIGHT CHESS.) Panicle erect, simple, rather 

 narrow, contracted in fruit ; flowers closer, more imbricated ; lower palea decided- 

 ly exceeding the upper, bearing an awn of its own length; culm more slender, 

 sheaths sometimes hairy : otherwise nearly as in the last, for which it is often 

 mistaken in this country. Grain-fields ; not rare. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. B* MOLLIS, L. (SOFT CHESS.) Panicle erect, closely contracted in fruit; 

 spikelets conical-ovate, somewhat flattened ; the flowers closely imbricated, downy 

 (as also the leaves, &c. ) } lower palea acute, long-awried. Wheat-fields, Nevr 

 York and Penn. ; scarce. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



# * Perennial: indigenous. (Lower glume strongly 3-, the upper 5-nerved.) 



4. B. Kuliiiii. (WiLD CHESS.) Panicle simple, small (3' -4' long), 

 the spikelets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7 - 12-flowered, densely 



