560 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



% 



lower palea entire; leaves large (l-2 long, J' to ' wide . Wet meadows, 

 &c. ; common northward. July. Culm stout, upright, 3 - 5 high. (Eu.) 



* # * Spikelets linear ('-!' long), terete, pale, oppressed on the branches of the 

 long and narrow racemose panicle : palece minutely roughish ; the upper 2-toothed : 

 stamens 3: squamuUe unilateral or united: ligule long: culm flattened, ascending 

 from a rooting ba.se. (Glycerin, Zt. Brou.~n.) 



7. G. (1 flit a sis, R. Brown. Spikelets 7- 13-flowcred ; lower palea oblortg, 

 obtuse, or the scuriuus tip acutLsh, entire or obscurely 3-lobed, usually rather 

 longer than the blunt upper one. (G. plicata, Fries.) Shallow water; com- 

 mon, especially northward. June - Aug. Culm thiekish, 1 - 5 long. Leave* 

 short and rather broad, very smooth. Panicle llong: the simple branches 

 appressed, finally spreading below. (Eu.) 



8. G. acutiflora, Torr. Spikelets 5 - 12-flowered, few and scattered; 

 lower palea oblong-lanceolate, acute, shorter than the long tapering point of the upper 

 one. Wet places, Penn. to New England ; rather rare. June. Resembles 

 the last ; but the erect leaves smaller, the separate flowers twice the length ($' 

 long) and less nerved. 



$ 2. HELEOCHLOA, Fries. ( Sclerochloa, ed. 1.) Lower palea inconspicuously 

 or obsoletely 5-nerved : stigmas nearly sessile and simply plumose : grain hardly 

 grooved : saline species : panicle contracted with age. 



9. G. maritima, Wahl. (SEA SPEAR-GRASS.) Sterile shoots procum- 

 bent runner-like; flowering culms erect (l-lj high); branches of the panicle 

 solitary or in pairs ; spikclets oblong or linear, 4 - 8-flowcrcd ; lower palea round- 

 ed at the summit, slightly pubescent towards the base ; leaves somewhat invo- 

 lute; ligule elongated. (Poa maritima, Huds.) Sea-coast; not rare. (Eu.) 



10. G. distailS, Wahl. Culms gcniculate at the base, ascending, des- 

 titute of running shoots ; branches of the panicle 3-5 in a half whorl, spreading ; 

 spikelets 3 - 6-flowered ; lower palea truncate-obtuse ; leaves mostly flat ; ligule 

 short. (P. fasciculata, Torr. P. distans, L, P. arenaria, Retz ) Salt marsh- 

 es along the coast. Probably only a form of the last. (Eu.) 



32. BRIZOPYRUUI, Link. SPIKE-GRASS. 



Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or 

 capitate panicle. Glumes herbaceous or mcmbranaeeous ; the lower faintly 

 many-nerved. Lower palea rather coriaceous, flattcned-boat-shaped, indistint Jy 

 many-nerve-.!, acute. Ovary stalked. Flowers mostly dioecious, pretty large. 

 Leaves crowded on the culms, involute, commonly rigid. (Name compounded 

 of Briza (No. 35), and irvpos, u-heat.) 



1. B. spicatiim, Hook. Culms tufted, from creeping rootstocks (9 ; - 

 18' high); spike oblong, flattened (I' long); spikelets ovate or oblong, 5-10- 

 flowered ; flowers smooth and nuked ; grain pointed. (Uniola spicata, L. Poa 

 Michauxii, Knnlh.) Salt marshes and shores. Aug. Pistillate flowers more 

 rigid and almost keeled, with very long plumose stigmas; the sterile smaller 

 and somewhat rounded on the back. 



