(GRASS FAMILY.) 571 



3. E. StriatUS, Willd. Spike dense but slender, upright oi slightlj nod- 

 ding (3' -4' long) ; spikelets mostly in pairs, 1 -2- (or rarely 3-) flowered, mi- 

 nutely bristly-hairy ; glumes linear-awl-shaped or truly awl-shaped, bristle-awned, 

 about thrice the length of the flowers, not counting their capillary awn (which is 1 

 long); leaves (rather narrow) and sheaths smooth or hairy, or downy. Var. 

 VILLOSUS (E. villosus, Muhl. !) has a somewhat stouter spike and very hairy 

 glumes Rocky woods and banks; rather rare. July. The most slender 

 and smallest-flowered species. 



* * Glumes and palece both awnless and soft in texture: reed-like perennials. 



4. E. mollis, Trin. (not of 11. Br.) Stout (3 high) ; spike thick, erect 

 (8 long); spikelets 2 or 3 at each joint, 5 - 8-flowered ; the lanceolate pointed 

 5- 7-nerved glumes (!' long) with the pointed paleae soft-villous, the apex of the 

 culm velvety ; rhachis of the spikelets separating into joints. Shore of Lakes 

 Huron, Superior, Maine ( Tuckerman ;) and northward. (Near E. arenarius.) 



46. OYMN^STICHUPtt, Schreb. BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-3 (or sometimes solitary) on each joint of the rhachis, raised on 

 a very short callous pedicel, loosely 2-4-flowered (when solitary placed flatwise 

 on the rhachis). Glumes none ! or small awn-like deciduous rudiments (whence 

 the name of this genus [otherwise nearly as in Elyinus], from yv^vos, naked, and 

 OTI'^OS, a rank). 



1. G. Ilystrix, Schreb. Spike upright, loose (3' -6' long); the spread- 

 ing spikelets 2-3 together, early deciduous; flowers smoothish, or often rough 

 hairy, tipped with an awn thrice their length (!' long); leaves and sheaths 

 smoothish. 1J. (Elyinus Hystrix, L.) Moist woodlands; rather common 

 July. 



47. AIR A, L. (in part). HAIR-GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, in an open diffuse panicle; the (small) flowers both per- 

 fect (sometimes with a third imperfect), usually shorter than the membranaceous 

 keeled glumes, hairy at the base ; the upper remotish. Lower palea truncate 

 or mostly denticulate or eroded at the summit, bearing a slender bent or straight 

 awn on its back. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base. Ovary glabrous. 

 Grain oblong. (An ancient Greek name for Darnel.) 



i 1. DESCIlAMPSIA, Beauv., Trin. Lower palea thin and scaric^s or mem- 

 branaceous, delicately 3 - 5-nerved, eroded or toothed at the truncate summit ; the 

 tnvn attached mostly a little above the base : grain not gi-ooved, mostly free : glumes 

 al)out equalling the flowers. 



1. A. flexuosa, L. (COMMON HAIR-GRASS.) Culms slender, nearly 

 naked (1- 2 high), from the small tufts of involute-bristle-form leaves (l'-6 f 

 long) ; branches of the small spreading panicle capillary ; awn about twice th* 

 length of the palea. 1J. Dry places ; common. June. (Eu.) 



2. A. csespitosa, L. Culms in close tufts (2 -4 high); leaves flat, 

 linear; panicle pyramidal or oblong (6' long) ; awn l>arely equalling the palea. 

 U. Shores of lakes and streams ; not rare northward. June, July. (Eu. ) 



