564 GRAMINE.E. (GUASS FAMILY.) 



3. E. ML6SA, Bcauv. Panicle elongated-oblong, with rather ercc; branches 

 (except at flowering-time) ; spikelets 5 - 1 2-flowered (2" -4" long, purplish-lead- 

 color), becoming linear, about equalling their pedicels ; glumes (small) and lower 

 valea obtuse, the latter broadly ovate, \-nerved (lateral nerves obsolete). (P. pilo- 

 sa, L. P. Linkii, Kunth.) Sandy or gravelly waste places, S. New England 

 to Illinois, and southward. Aug. Plant 6' - 12' high. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. E. Frailkii, Meyer. Much branched, diffuse (3' -8' high); panicle 

 ovate-oblong, rather dense, spreading; spikdets 2 - 5-flowered (1"-!^" long) on 

 slender pedicels; glumes very acute; lower palea ovate, acute, rather obscurely 3- 

 nerved. (E. erythrogona, Nees, from the joints of the culm being mostly red- 

 dish.) Low or sandy ground, Ohio to Illinois (opposite St. Louis, Drummanet, 

 Engelmann), and southwestward. Aug. 



5. E. Pursllii, (Bernh.?) Schrad. Sparingly branched at the decum- 

 bent base, then erect (|-2,high); panicle elongated, the branches widely 

 spreading, very loose; sjnkelets 5-lS-flowered, oblong-lanceolate, becoming 

 linear (2" -4^" long), mostly much shorter than their capillary pedicels ; glumes and 

 lower palea ovate and acute, or the latter acutish, 3-nerved. (Poa tenella 1 ? Pursh. 

 P. Caroliniana, Spreny. P. pectinacea of authors, not of Michx.) Sandy or 

 sterile open grounds, New Jersey to Virginia, and southward. 



- -- Culms simple or branching only at the very base, firm, erect, from an annual or 

 perennial root, mostly forming thick tufts : leaves very long ; panicle very large, com' 

 pound, often longer than the culm, with elongated and loosely flowered branches ; their 

 axils often bearded. 



6. E. tennis. Panicle virgately elongated (1-2| long), very loose, the 

 spreading branches bearded in some of the lower axils, their remote divisions 

 wad long diverging pedicels capillary; spikeletS'2-6- (sometimes 7 -12-) flow- 

 ered, pale or greenish ; glumes lanceolate or awl-shaped, very acute (l"- 2" long), 

 membranaceous, as are the oblong-lanceolate acute flowers ; lower palea distinctly 3- 

 nerved; the upper ciliate-scabrous. ty? (Poa tenuis, Ell. P. capillaris, Michx. 

 P. trichodes, Nutt. ^E. Geyeri, Steud.) Sandy soil, Illinois, Virginia? and 

 southward. Aug. -Oct. Leaves rather rigid, l-2 long, glabrous or spar- 

 ingly hairy : the sheaths hairy or glabrous ; the throat strongly bearded. Flow- 

 ers much larger than in the next, fully l" long. 



7. E. capillaris, Nees. Panicle widely exj'xmdiny, usually much longer 

 than the culm, its spreading brandies (mostly naked in the" axils) and long 

 diverging pedicels capillary; spikelets rather terete, very small, 2 - 4-flowered, 

 greenish or purplish ; glumes and flowers ovate, acute (less than l''long); lower 

 palea oltscurely 3-nerved, scarcely keeled, the upper rough-ciliate. r- (Poa capil- 

 laris, L. P. hirsuta, Afichx.) Sandy dry soil and fields; common, especially 

 southward. Aug., Sept. Leaves and sheaths cither very hairy or nearly gla- 

 brous, the former about 1 long, not rigid. Panicle l-2 long, becoming very 

 wide and diffuse. 



8. E. pectinacea. Panicle widely dijfuse, its rigid divergent main 

 brunches bearded in the axils ; the capillary pedicels more or le&i oppressed on the 

 Becondary branches; spikelets flat, 5- 15-flowcred, becoming linear, purple or 

 purplish-tinged ; glumes and flowers ovate or oblong-ovate, acutish ; lower paled 



