GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMIL1.) 535 



131. C. Oligosperma, Michx. Sterile spikes 1-2, slender; fertile 

 spikes 1-2, short, ovoid, few-flowered, the lower on a very short stalk; perigynia 

 ovoid, tapering into a short minutely toothed beak, not much longer than tho 

 ovate awnless scale ; culm ver/ slender; leaves and bracts linear, at length involute 

 (C. Oakesiana, Dew.) Borders of lakes and ponds, especially on mountains, 

 New England, N. New York, Wisconsin, and northward. 



132. C. loiigil'OSlrf.-**, Torr. Sterile spikes usually 3, at the summit of 

 a long slender stalk ; the lower often bearing some fertile flowers ; fertile spike* 

 2-3, cylindrical, more or less distant, on long Jilifonn at lenyth drooping stalks, 

 loosely flowered ; perigynia globose-ovoid, smooth and shining, abruptly contracted 

 into a very long and narrow beak, which is rough on the margin, oblique and 2- 

 clcft at the membranaceous orlflce, a little longer than the lanceolate light-colored 

 or white scale. (C. Sprengelii, Dew.} Shady rocks, N. New England to Wis- 

 consin, and northward. Though agreeing with the species of this section in the 

 numerous staminate spikes and the long-beaked fruit, this plant is perhaps as 

 nearly allied to No. 97. 



ORDER 134. GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



Grasses, with usually hollow stems (culms) closed at the joints, alternate 2- 

 ranked leaves, their sheaths split, or open on the side opposite the blade; the 

 hypogynous floicers imbricated with ^-ranked glumes or bracts : the outer pair 

 (glumes proper, calyx, L.) subtending the spikelet of one or several flow- 

 ers ; the inner pair (palece, outer perianth, li. Br.) enclosing each partic- 

 ular flower, which is usually furnished with 2 or 3 minute hypogynous 

 scales (squamulce, Juss., corolla, Micheli, lodicuke, Beauv.). Stamens 1-6, 

 commonly 3 : anthers versatile, 2-celled, the cells distinct. Styles mostly 

 2 or 2-parted : stigmas hairy or feathery. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, form- 

 ing a seed-like grain (can/apsis) in fruit. Embryo small, on the outside 

 and at the base of the floury albumen. Hoots fibrous. -Sheath of the 

 leaves usually more or less extended above the base of the blade into a 

 scarious appendage (ligule). Spikelets panicled or spiked. Inner (upper) 

 palea usually 2-nerved or 2-keeled, therefore probably consisting of two 

 united. A vast and most important family, as it furnishes the cereal 

 grains, and the principal food of cattle, &c. See Plates I. to YIII. 



Synopsis. 



Taas I. POACE^E, R. Brown. Spikelets 1 - many-flowered, when more than one- 

 flowered centripetal in development ; the lowest flowers first developing, the uppermost, 

 if any, imperfect or abortive, the rest all alike in the spikelet (perfect, or occasionally 

 monoecious or dioecious) ; only in a few exceptional cases with the lowest of the several 

 flowers less perfect than the upper (viz. stammute only in Arrhenatherum and Phrag- 

 mites, neutral in Uniola, Ctenium, &c.). 



flubtribe 1. ORTZEJE. Spikelets 1-flowered, in panicles, the flowers often monoecious. 



Glumes abortive or wanting! Inner paleaj 3 -nerved ! Squamulse 2 Stamens 1-6 

 1. LEERSIA. Flowers perfect, strongly flattened contrary to the awnless palese 

 '4. ZIZANIA. Flowers monoecious. Paleae convex ; the lower one awned in the fertile flower* 



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