562 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMI1 T.) 



* *-+ Floivers (oltlong -lanceolate) and both glumes acute: panicle nan.no. 



5. P. alsodes. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the uppei nosi 

 (2^'-4' long) often sheathing the base of the panicle, the capillary branches of 

 which are appresscd when young, and mostly in threes or fours ; spikclets 3- 

 flowercd (pale green, soft) ; lower palea very obscurely nerved, villous on the 

 keel below, and with a narrow cobwebby tuft at its base, otherwise glabrous. 

 (P. nemoralis, Torr. ed 1 : but wholly different from the European species cf 

 that name.) Woods, on hill-sides, New England to Wisconsin. May, June. 

 *--*- Branches of the rather narrow but loose long-peduncled panicle in threes or 



fives, or rarely in pairs, short or shortish, above bearing scattered and rather few 

 8}>ikelets; these barely 2" long, pale green, rather loosely 2 - ^-flowered : flower* 

 (oblong) and glumes obtuse ; lotuer jjalea scarcely scar ions-tipped: plant very smooth, 

 slender (l-3 hiyh) : culm-leaves lance-linear, acute, l'-3' long, sofl. 



6. P. debilis, Torr. Culm terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 slender (the lower l^'-2' long to the few spikelcts), in pairs and threes ; flowers 

 very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at their base. Rocky 

 woodlands, Rhode Island and N. New York to Wisconsin. May. 



7. P. sylvestris. Cnlmflattish, erect; branches of the oblong-pyramidal 

 panicle short, in fives or more ; lower palea villous on the keel for its whole length t 

 and on the margins below the middle, sparingly webbed at the base. Rocky woods 

 and meadows, Ohio to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and southward. June. 



+- *- -- Branches of the narrow or oblong panicle mostly short, in Jives or some- 

 times in twos and threes, rough, mostly compound and bearing very numerous closely- 

 fioicered spikelets : flowers acute or acutish, more or less webbed at the base. 



** Panicle open, its branches in Jives : the 3 - 5-flowered spikelets all distinctly pedicelled, 

 acute, slightly flattened ; lower palea villous or pubescent on the keel and marginal 

 nerves, the Intel-mediate nerves obsolete: culms erect (2 - 3 high), terete, growing 

 in tufts, not at all stolon iferous at the base. 



8. P. serotiiia, Ehrhart. (FALSE RED-TOP. FOWL MEADOW-GRASS.) 

 Leaves narrowly linear; li yules elongated ; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (!"- 

 2" long) ; flowers acutish, green, often tinged with dull purple. (P. nemoralis, 

 Pursh. P. crocata, Michx. belongs to this or the next.) Wet meadows and 

 low banks of streams ; common everywhere northward. July, Aug. A good 

 grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



9. P IiemorilliS, L. Leaves linear; I ig ides obsolete or very short; spiks* 

 lets 4-5-flou-ered, rather larger, and the flowers and glumes more sharply aci^e and 

 narrower ; otherwise nearly as in the preceding, which is too nearly related to 

 it. Wisconsin ( Lapham), and northward. ( Eu. ) 



-* -* Panicle with the flattened spikelets crowded on the branches, mostly shori-pedi- 

 cellcd, sometimes almost sessile: culms stoloniferous at the base, except in No. 10. 



10. P. TKIVIAI.IS, L. (ROUGH MEADOW-GRASS.) Culms (l-3 high) 

 and sheaf/is iimutllij rntln-r rom/h ; branches of the pyramidal diffuse panicle mostly 

 in fives ; spikrk'ts 3 5-Aowered ; /foirem e&vte, promitteiitly 5-wrm/ a little hairy 

 on the keel, otherwise glabrous; ligule. unite, oblong. Moist meadows; less 

 common and less valuable than the next. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



