

GEAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 111 



repeated!;/ branching in the autumn, branches much exceeding the internodes; 

 leaves much reduced, usually ciliate. Moist sandy woods, mostly near the 

 coast, N. J. to Fla. and La. Resembling P. scoparium in color and pubescence, 

 but smaller and much more slender. 



45. P. auburne Ashe. Similar to the preceding but smaller in all its parts, 

 early becoming diffusely branched and decumbent; upper surface of the blades 

 with copious long silky hairs intermixed with the velvety pubescence ; primary 

 panicle short-exserted, 3-4 cm. long, about as wide, axis velvety with long silky 

 hairs intermixed, branches spreading ; spikelets 1.3-1.4 mm. long, obovate, very 

 turgid, densely papillose-pubescent ; first glume -i-i as long as the spikelet, 

 second glume and sterile lemma equal, covering the fruit. Sandy pine and oak 

 woods on the coastal plain. N. J. to Fla. 



46. P. praecbcius Hitchc. & Chase. Culms very slender, wiry, early branch- 

 ing, 1.5-4 dm. high, soon becoming geniculate and somewhat spreading, copi- 

 ously pilose with weak spreading hairs 34 mm. long, as are the sheaths, which 

 are much shorter than the long internodes ; ligule 3-4 mm. long ; blades rather 

 firm, 5-8 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, those of the branches as large as the primary 

 blades, often involute toward the end, long-pilose on both sides; the hairs on the 

 upper surface erect, 4-5 mm. long ; primary panicle 4-6 cm. long, nearly as wide, 

 loosely flowered, axis pilose, branches spreading or ascending; secondary pani- 

 cles numerous, appearing before the maturity of the primary one; spikelets 

 1.8-1.9 mm. long, obovate. turgid, long-pilose with weak spreading hairs ; first 

 glume ^-| as long as the spikelet ; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, the 

 glume slightly shorter than the fruit. Dry prairies and clearings, Mich, and 

 111. to Okla. and Tex. Scarcely has a simple state, branches appearing often 

 before the primary panicle is expanded. 



47. P. scoparioides Ashe. Culms erect, papillose-hispid, a glabrous or 

 papillose ring below the bearded nodes; lower sheaths distant, the upper some- 

 times overlapping on the shortened internodes, papillose-hispid (rarely nearly- 

 glabrous) ; ligule 2-3 mm. long ; blades firm, ascending or spreading, 7-10 cm. 

 long, 6-7 mm. wide, papillose-pubescent beneath, sparsely hispid above ; panicle 

 pale, rather densely flowered, sometimes included at the base, 4-7 cm. long, 

 about | as wide ; branches ascending or spreading ; spikelets 2.2-2.3 mm. long, 

 obovate. obtuse, papillose-pubescent, strongly nerved ; first glume about ^ as 

 long as the spikelet, second barely as long as the fruit. Autumnal state with 

 short branches at the middle and upper nodes, the reduced blades involute-pointed, 

 much exceeding the panicles. Dry gravelly or serpentine soil, Ct. to Del. ; 

 apparently rare. 



48. P. villosissimum Nash. Olive-green ; culms 2.5-4.5 dm. high, erect or 

 ascending, slender, villous with spreading hairs 3 mm. long, as are the sheaths ; 

 ligule 4-5 mm. long; blades rather firm, especially those of the branches, as- 

 cending, 6-10 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide, often subinvolute toward the end, pilose 

 on both surfaces, hairs of the upper surface appressed, long and less copious; 

 primary panicles often equaled by the uppermost leaf, 4-8 cm. long, about as 

 wide, loosely flowered ; spikelets 2.2-2.5 mm. long, oblong-elliptic, obtuse, papil- 

 lose-pubescent ; first glume %- \ as long as the subequal second glume and sterile 

 lemma which are scarcely as long as the subacute fruit. Culms in autumnal 

 state widely spreading, often with geniculate nodes and arched internodes ; 

 late in the season prostrate, leaves of the fascicled branches appressed, the clump 

 having a fiat combed-out appearance, a character conspicuous in the field but 

 less so in the herbarium ; blades not much reduced. (P. atlanticum Nash ; 

 P. haemacarpon Ashe ; P. xanthospermum Scribn. & Mohr.) Sandy or sterile 

 soil, open woods and hillsides, Mass, to Minn., s. to Fla. ; common. 



49. P. ovale Ell. Light olive-green ; culms 2-4 dm. high, erect or ascending, 

 rather stout, villous with ascending or appressed long silky hairs ; nodes densely 

 bearded with spreading hairs; sheaths nearly as long as the internodes, the 

 upper sometimes overlapping, villous like the culm, or upper rarely nearly gla- 

 brous ; ligule 2 mm. long ; blades 6-10 cm. long, 5-9 mm. wide, firm, ascending, 

 rounded at base, more or less appressed-pilose toward the margins and base 

 above, appressed-pubescent below; panicle usually short-exserted, 5-8 cm. long, 





