GRAMINEJL (GRASS FAMILT*) 58S 



64. ANDROPOGOIV, L. BEAED-GEASS. 



Spikelets in pairs upon each joint of the slender rhachis, spiked or rucemed ; 

 one of them pedicelled and sterile, often a mere vestige : the other sessile, with 

 the lower flower neutral and of a single palea ; the upper perfect and fertile, of 

 2 thin and hyaline palese shorter than the herbaceous or chartaceous glumes, the 

 lower awned from the tip. Stamens 1-3. Grain free. Coarse and mostly 

 rigid perennial Grasses, with lateral or terminal spikes commonly clustered or 

 digitate ; the rhachis hairy or plumose-bearded, and often the sterile or stami- 

 nate flowers also (whence the name, composed of dvrjp, av&pos, man, and rra>yo)i/, 

 beard). 



* Sterile spikelet staminate (stamens 3), awnless: spikes digitate. 



1. A. furcfitus, Muhl. Culms (4 high) and leaves nearly smooth, 

 bearing 3-5 straight and rather rigid hairy spikes together at the naked summit 

 (or fewer on lateral branches) ; spikelets approximated, roughish-downy ; awn 

 bent. Sterile soil ; common. Sept. 



# * Sterile spikelet neutral, reduced to a small pointed glume raised on a long bearded 

 pedicel ; the fertile 2 - 3-androus, bearing a slender mostly bent or twisted awn : culms 

 paniculate-branched. 



2. A. scopitl'ifis, Michx. Culms slender (2 -4 high), with many pa 

 niculate branches ; the lower sheaths and the narrow leaves hairy ; spikes mostly 

 single, terminating the short branches, puduncled, very loose, slender (2' long, often 

 purple), sparsely silky with dull white hairs; the zigzag rhachis hairy along tho 

 edges ; pairs of spikelets rather distant. Sterile or open sandy soil ; common 

 July- Sept. 



3. A. argeiiteus, Ell. Culms rather slender (about 3 high) ; spikes in 

 pairs, on a peduncle exceeding the sheaths, dense, very silky with long white hairs 

 (l'-2' long) ; rudimentary flower much shorter than the hairs of its pedicel. 

 Sten'Jft soil, Virginia, Illinois? and southward. Sept., Oct. Spikes much 

 denser, and the flowers larger and more silky, than in the next ; which it con- 

 siderably resembles. 



# * * Sterile spikelet abortive, reduced to a mere awn-like plumose pedicel, bearing no 

 distinct rudiment of a flower ; the fertile l-androus, and bearing a straight slender 

 awn : spikes clustered, lateral and terminal, partly enclosed in the flattened bract' 

 like sheaths; the slender rhachis, frc. clothed with copioui very long and silki/ 

 (white] hairs. 



4. A. VirgilliCllS, L. Culm flattish below, slender, sparingly short- 

 branched above (3 high) ; sheaths smooth ; spikes 2 or 3 together in distant oppressed 

 clusters, weak and soft (I 1 long). Sandy soil ; New York to Illinois, and south- 

 ward. Sept. 



5. A. IBiaci'OUrilS, Michx. Culm stout (2 - 3 high), bushy-brandied at 

 tJie summit, loaded with numerous spikes forming dense leafy dusters; sheath 

 rough, the upper hairy. Low grounds, New York to Virginia, near tho coast, 

 and southward. Sept., Oct. 



