GRASS FAMILY. 469 



III. Meadow and Fodder Grasses. Species of xoidely differing char- 

 acteristics in the different parts of the country. Oat Grass {see V.) is 

 sometimes grown in mcadoics, and Gama Grass {see VII.) is used for 



* Flowers in loose panicles. 



■t- Spreading inveterately by creeping rootstocks. 



S6rgbum Ha/apense, Linn. (Androp6gon arundinA.ceus). Johnson 

 Grass. Guinea Grass (erroneously). A coarse grass, 4°-7° higli, much 

 prized for hay in the S. ; leaves long, loose, and flat, with a prominent, 

 white, raised midrib ; panicle long and very open ; the spikelets reddish 

 and each bearing one or two awns. Old World. By some thought to be 

 the parent of the Sorghums. 2/ 



I- 1- Xot spreading widely by rootstocks. 



++ Flower 1 in each spikelet and perfect, but sometimes rudiments of others. 



Agrdstis dlba, Linn. Fiorin or White Bent Grass. Stems with pro- 

 cumbent or creeping base ; ligule long, acute, and conspicuous ; panicle 

 contracting after flowering, with roughish branches, greenish or slightly 

 purplish ; a valuable meadow grass. 2/ 



Var. vulgaris, Thurb. Redtop. Rather low (1°-2P) and delicate 

 grass of meadows and pastures, with oblong spreading panicle of small 

 purple or purplish spikelets ; ligule short and truncate. % 



Calamagr6stis Canadensis, Beauv. Blue Joint Grass. In all bogs 

 N., and in reclaimed low meadows, much liked by cattle; 3°-5° high ; 

 resembles an Agrostis, but taller, and with a tuft of downy long hairs 

 around the flower almost its length, the flowering glume with a delicate 

 awn low down on its back and scarcely stouter than the surrounding 

 down. 2/ 



Pdnicum miliaceum, Linn. True Millet. Spikelets all pedicellate in 

 an umbel-form panicle, each with 3 empty glumes and 1 flower ; tall 

 grass (3°-4°) with loose, soft leaves and drooping panicle. Probably E. 

 Indian. 



** ++ Flowers several in each spikelet, most or all of them perfect. 



= Panicle contracted in l-sided clusters ; glumes compressed on the sides 



and carinate. 



D&ctylis glomerdta, Linn. Orchard Grass. Nat. from Eu. in mead- 

 ows and yards ; a tall and coarse, but valuable grass fo^ hay, etc., flour- 

 ishes in shady places, 3° high ; with broadly linear, rather rough, pale, 

 and keeled leaves, and a dense panicle of one-sided clusters, on which the 

 spikelets are much crowded, each 3-4-flowered, the glumes tapering into 

 a short awn, rough-ciliate on the keel ; flowers early summer. 2J. 



= = Panicle symmetrical, diffuse ; glumes compressed and carinate and 

 pubescent or cobwebby at the base in the Poas, but simply convex and 

 glabrous in Festuca. 



P6a serdtina, Ehrh. Fowl Meadow Grass, False Redtop. An 

 important native grass in wet meadows N.; flowers in late summer in 

 a loose panicle, the 2-4-flowered spikelets green with dull purple ; flower- 

 ing glume very obscurely nerved. 2/ 



P. triviaiis, Linn. Roughish Meadow Grass. An introduced meadow 

 and pasture grass, X. ; flowering before midsummer, with open panicle of 

 green spikelets, these mostly 3-flowered, the flowering glume prominently 

 5-nerved ; sheaths and leaves roughish ; ligule oblong, acute. A white- 

 striped variety, is cult, for ornament. ^ 



P. pratensis, Linn. June Grass, Kentucky Blue Grass. Dry 

 meadows and pastures, spreading by running rootstocks, and with a 



