'.MI GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



spikelets solitary or in 2's, 2.2 mm. lon<j ; the glume and sterile lemma equal, 



densely short-villous between the nerves, a* I<>H<J ax the dark Irr own fertile lemma. 



(Panicum lineare Krock ; P. ylabrum Gaud.) Cultivated and 



A waste ground, N. S. to S. Dak., and southw. Aug.-Oct. (Nat. 



Mil from Eu.) Fi<;. f>4. 



m/ 4. D. ser6tina Michx. Extensively creeping, forming dense 



\ mats ; the crowded xht-atltx />//(>*/> ; blades 2-8 cm. long, 4-7 mm. 



_, _ wide, pilose on both surfaces; racemes 3-8, at the apex of 



Sniketoxi 18 *' ascendin S branches (1-3 dm. high), 3-10 cm. long; spikelets 



mostly in 2's, 1.6 mm. long, sparsely pubescent between the 



nerves; the glume scarcely \ as long as the pale fertile lemma. (Panicum 



Trin.) Low sandy ground near the coast, s. Pa., Del., and southw. June-Aug. 



-- -<- Pedicels sharply angled; first tjlume present, minute. 



5. D. SANGUIN\LIS (L.) Scop. (CRAB GRASS.) Culms erect or ascending 

 from a decumbent often creeping base, 3-12 dm. long ; 

 nodes and sheaths more or less papillose-hirsute ; blades 

 lax, 5-12 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, scabrous, often more 

 or less pilose ; racemes 3-12, subfasciculate, 5-18 cm. 

 long ; spikelets in pairs, 3-3.5 mm. long, usually appressed- 

 pubescent between the smooth or scabrous nerves ; second 

 glume about \ as long as the pale or grayish fertile lemma. 

 {Panicum L. ; Syntherisma fimbriata Nash.) Cultivated 5,-,. n. 

 and waste grounds, throughout our range, and southw. Part . .niitioivsceniH; x 

 Aug.-Oct Very variable. (Nat. from Eu.) FIG. 55. Spikelets x 3. 



7. LEPTOLdMA Chase 



Spikelets 1-flowered, fusiform, solitary on long capillary 3-angled pedicels ; 

 first glume obsolete or very minute, the second 3-nerved, nearly as long as the 

 5-7-nerved sterile lemma ; fertile lemma cartilaginous-indurated, papillose, with 

 a delicate hyaline margin not inrolled, inclosing a palea of like texture ; grain 

 free within the lemma and palea. Tufted perennials, with flat leaves and very 

 diffuse terminal panicles, which break away at maturity and become tumble- 

 weeds. (Name from \cirrbs, delicate, and XcD^a, border, in reference to the 

 hyaline margins of the lemma.) 



1. L. cognatum (Schultes) Chase. (FALL WITCH GRASS.) Pale green, much 

 branched at the base, erect or geniculate below, very brittle, 3-7 dm. high ; 

 lower sheaths pilose, the upper usually glabrous ; ligule membranaceous, 1 mm. 

 long ; blades 5-8 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, rather rigid, usually glabrous, scabrous 

 on the margins ; panicle \-\ the entire height of the plant, short-exserted, very 

 diffuse, as broad as long or broader ; the capillary scabrous subrlexuous 

 branches at first ascending, soon widely spreading, naked below, pilose in the 

 axils; spikelets on scabrous pedicels, 1-4 cm. long, acuminate, 2.7-3 mm. long; 

 glume and sterile lemma with a stripe of appressed silky pubescence between t fit- 

 nerves and on the margins, or the hairs becoming loose and xj>rraiii>ia <*///</,///// 

 on the margins, very variable in the same panicle; fruit acuminate, chestnut, 

 the margins of the lemma white. (Panicum Schultes; P. autumnal*- Bosc.) 

 Dry soil and sand hills, N. H. to Fla. ; 111. to Minn., southw. and south westw. 



8. AMPHICARPON Kunth 



Spikelets 1-flowered, of 2 kinds, one in a terminal panicle, perfect but not 

 fruitful, the other subterranean, cleistogamous, on slender leafless steins at the 

 bas3 of the culm ; the iirst glume of the aerial spikclets variable in si/.e or obso- 

 lete ; the second and the sterile lemma subequal ; lemma and palea indurated, 

 margins of lemma neither hyaline nor inrolled; cleistogamous spikelets much 



