GKAMINEJC. (GEASS FAMILY.) 578 



acutely 2-cleft 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 1- and S-nerved ; lower palea about 7-nerved : root 

 perennial. 



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

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

 on rough capillary pedicels, 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 (J' long), bearing a long straightish awn just below the taper- 

 ing very sharply cuspidate 2-cleft tip. (Trisetum purpurascens, Torr.) Rocky, 

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



$ 2. AIR6PSIS, Desv., Fries. Spikelets very small, of 2 closely approximate 

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

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

 Avena, here appended to the latter for convenience.) 



2. A. PR^COX, Beauv. 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 pracox, L.) Sandy fields, New Jersey to Vir- 

 ginia : rare. (Nat. from Eu.) 



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

 and long, 7 - 9-nerved glumes. 



51. ARRHENATHERUM, 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 apprjv, masculine, and adr/p, awn) : 

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



1. A. AVENACEUM, Beauv. 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. HOL.CUS, L. (partly). MEADOW SOFT-GRASS. 



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

 the boat-shaped membranaceous 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. LANATUS, L. (VKLVET-GRASS.) Soft-downy, pale ; panicle oblong 

 (l'-4' long) ; upper dunu: murroiiafe-awiied under the apex ; awn of the 8tum 

 inate flower recurved. 1J. Moist meadows ; .scarce. June (Nut. from Eu.) 



