128 



<;i;. \.MINKAI-: (CKASS FAMILY) 



Var. paliistris Scribn. Similar to the species ; culms reclining or ascending, 

 very slender or almost filiform ; leaves 2-4 cm. long, 2-'.> mm. wide ; panicles 

 5-10 cm. long, very slender, more loosely floirer< / , .>/< /Av/r/.s- (excluding the 

 awn) 2.5 mm. long, usually purple; glumes acute, une<jii/, 

 the first about , the second about \ the length <>f tin- l> /dentate 

 awned lemma; awn flexuous, 4-6 mm. long. (M. palnxtri* 

 Scribn.) Swampy ground, D. C. and 111. Sept., Oct. 



2. TRICH6CHLOA (Beauv.) Trin. Panicle very loose and 

 open, the long branches andpedicels capillary ; leaves namm-, 

 often convolute-bristle-form. 



8. M. capillaris (Lam.) Trin. (HAIH GRASS.) Caespitose, 

 erect, with simple rigid culms, 6-10 dm. high; sheaths overlap- 

 ping; blades 1-3 dm. long, involute, rigid; panicle nhont 1 the 

 entire height of the plant, its spreading capillary branch^ l<^, /// 

 flowered; spikelets purple, 4 mm. long (excluding the awn) ; 

 gbames subequal, acute, or the second aristate-pointed, about .'. as 

 long as the lemma which bears a delicate awn 5-20 mm. long. 

 91. M. capillaris. Dry sandy or gravelly soil, Mass, to Fla., west to Mo. and Tex. 



x3. FlG. 91. 



27. BRACHYELYTRUM Beauv. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in a few-flowered narrow panicle ; glumes minute, 

 unequal ; floret with a short callus, the rhachilla prolonged 

 behind the palea into a slender naked bristle ; lemma firm, 

 narrow, 5-nerved, terminating in a long straight awn ; palea 

 firm, nearly as long as the lemma ; grain oblong, inclosed in 

 the lemma and palea. Perennials, with simple culms from 

 short knotty rootstocks. (Name composed of ppaxfa, short, 

 and HXvrpov, husk, from the minute glumes.) 



1. B. erSctum (Schreb.) Beauv. Culms erect, 5-10 dm. 

 high ; sheaths sparsely retrorse-hispid ; blades 8-15 cm. long, 

 1-1.8 rnrn. wide, lanceolate, very scabrous, pilose on the 

 nerves beneath ; panicle narrow, 1-2 dm. long ; spikelets 1 cm. 

 long (excluding the awns), on capillary pedicels; first glume 

 often obsolete, second sometimes aristate ; floret scabrous. 

 (B. aristatum Beauv.) Rocky woods, Nfd. to Minn., and 92. r,. -n-<-timi. 

 southw. July, Aug. FIG. 92. Spikelets x 1%. 



II. schoenoides. 

 Inflorescence x %. 

 Spikelets x 8. 



28. HELE6CHLOA Host 



Spikelets 1-flowered, flattened, in dense oblong-ovoid spike- 

 like panicles ; glumes awnless, shorter than the 1 -nerved lemma 

 which subtends a palea of nearly equal length. Low raespi- 

 tose branching annuals, the numerous spike-like panicles 

 partly included in the inflated sheaths. (Name from ?Xoj, 

 a meadow, and x^ a -> grass.} 



1. H. s< -IIOKNOIIIKS (L.) Host. Usually almost prostrate ; 

 leaves rather rigid, tapering to a sharp point; spike 1.5-4 cm. 

 long. Waste places, N. Y. to 1M. and e. Pa. ; also 

 111. (Bebb). (Adv. from En.) Fi... 88, 



29. PHLEUM L. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, flattened, in dense cylindrical spike-like panicles; 

 glumes equal, eiliate on the keels, and abruptly awn-pointed, longer than the 



