TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 49 



common to Siberia, the south of Europe, Hudson's Bay, 



and the Missouri. 



'5. CRYPSIS. Lamarck. (Thorn-Grass.) 



Calix 2-valved, oblong, l-flowercd. Corolla 

 2 valved, longer thati the calix. Stamina 2 or 

 3. (Spike surrounded at the base by the sheath 

 of the leaf; or the flowers collected into a leafy 

 capitulum.) 



Culm decumbent or procumbent, extremely branched; 

 leaves rig'id and pung-ent; flowers collected in squai rose 

 heads, or short and dense irregularly involucrate, lobed 

 spikes. 



Species. 1. C. * sgimrrosa. Stem decumbent, much 

 bratiched; leaves shoir, all I'lg-id, and sharply pm.g'ent; ca- 

 pituli squarrose, few flouered; dorsal valve of ihtr coi*Oila 

 coriaceous, somewhat cleft at the point, with a shortish 

 subulate central cusp. 



Oil arid plains near the *' Crand Detour" of the Mis- 

 souri, almost exclusively covering- th .usands of acres, 

 and as pungent as thorris. O Not more than 3 or 4 

 inches iii.tfh; the flouers not collected into heads, as ill 

 the European species, but merely in. squarrose terminal 

 fascicles; the outer g-hime of the corolla is likewise cleft 

 so as to present 3 shori coriaceous s.bulate points. 



2 Virginica Spike oblong, thick and lobed, .e^enerally 

 sheadied by the inflated va.o^ins of 2 short leaves; stem 

 procumbent, -g-enicu ate, nodes nunierous, approximat- 

 ing; leav s involute, rigid, and pungent; cahx carinate, 

 shorter tha tlie corolla. 



Agrostis virginica. \\ illd Sp. Plant. Jigrostis pnngene, 

 Schreber. Ciiam. 



Lea\es short, filiform subulate, rig-id and divaricate, al- 

 most entirely smooth, and somewhat glaucous; culm decum- 

 bent branched from the base; spikes closely sheathed, axil- 

 lary and terminal, about an inch long-, sometimes oblong-- 

 ovate, laternl sjjikts often veiy short and roundish, raciiis 

 thick and angular at the base; calix nearly equal, compiess- 

 ed caiinate, acute, shorter than the corolla, ciliate on the 

 -carina (seen througli a lens); corolla \:alves often rather 

 unequal, inner valve somewhat obtuse, naked at the base; 

 style exserted, long. 



Grows in the streets of Philadelphia. Dr. W. Barto?:. 

 In Virginia. Pur-h. 

 It appears to be allied to Phleiimi but more distinctly 



