540 GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



* Spikelets narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. L<. oryzoide, Swartz. (RiCE CUT-GRASS.) Panicle diffusely brai cl.ed 

 often sheathed at the base; spikelets fiat, rather spreading in flower (2" -3' 

 long); stamens 3 ; paleae strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish). Wet places; com- 

 mon. (Eu.) 



2. JL. Virginica, Willd. (WHITE GRASS.) Panide simple; the spike- 

 lets clssely oppressed on the slender branches around which they are partly curved 

 (H' ; long) ; stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting) ; paleaa sparingly ciliate 

 (greenish-white). Wet woods. Aug., Sept. 



# # Spikelets broadly oval, imbricately covering each other (2i"-3" long). 



3. Li. leiiticuluris, Michx. (FLY-CATCH GRASS.) Smoothish ; pan! 

 cle simple ; paleae very flat, strongly bristly ciliate (said to close and catch flies) t 

 BtPtnens 2. Low grounds, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



OKYZA SATIVA, the RICE-PLANT, is allied to this genus. 



2. ZIZANIA, Gronov. WATER or INDIAN RICE. 



Flowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate both in 1 -flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary, and forming a little 

 cup. Paleae herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile spikelets, 

 the lower tipped with a straight awn in the fertile ones. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. Large and often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with 

 the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Ziui>ioi>, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aqiltica, L. (INDIAN RICE. WATER OATS.) Loiver branches 

 of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the, upper erect, pistillate 

 pedicels stronglv club-shaped; lower palece long-awned, rough ; styles distinct; 

 grain linear, slender. (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) Swampy borders of streams 

 and in shallow water; common, especially northwestward. Aug. Culms 3- 

 9 high. Leaves flat, 2 -3 long, linear-lanceolate. Grain ' long ; gathered 

 for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. milificca, Michx. Panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate and pis- 

 tillate Jlcwers intermixed; awns short ; styles united ; grain ovate. ]\. Pcnu * 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. Leaves involute. 



3. AL-OPECtJRUS, L. FOXTAIL GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal,- united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palca, which 

 is awned on the back below the middle: upper palea wanting! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. Panicle contracted into a 

 cylindrical and soft dense spike. (Name from aXa>7rr;, fox, ar.d oipa, tail, the 

 popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. ritATENSis, L. (MEADOW FOXTAIL.) Culm upright, smooth (2 

 high); paled equalling the acute glumes; awn exserted more than liti/f its length, 

 tnnsttd ; upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. U Meadows and 

 pastures of E. New England and New York. May. (Nat. frjiu Eu.) 



