AGROSTIDE^ 



205 



fruit. The ligule is often shorter and usually truncate. This form 

 is common in grass land in the northeastern states, where it is 

 introduced or escaped from cul- 

 tivation. 



Agrostis alba maritima 

 (Lam.) G. F. W. Mey. Creep- 

 ing bent. Differs from redtop 

 in its creeping or stoloniferous 

 stems and narrow panicles, the 

 blades mostly short and ap>- 

 pressed. Native along the North 

 Atlantic coast of America and 

 Europe, and the Pacific coast 

 from central CaUfornia to British 

 Columbia. The form cultivated 

 for lawns appears to have been 

 derived from this. 



Rhode Island bent. In 

 botanical literature this name 

 has been applied to Agrostis 

 canina L., a grass similar in 

 appearance to A. alba vulgaris, 

 but usually more dehcate, the 

 glumes about 2 mm. long, the 

 lemma about three-fourths as 

 long as the glumes, bearing a 

 httle below the middle a bent 

 exserted awn, the palea wanting. 

 This is a native of Europe and 

 is rare in America. There is no 

 evidence that this species has 

 been cultivated in Europe or 

 America. The seed sold under 

 the name Rhode Island bent is 

 imported from Europe, and consists for the most part of some form 

 of Agrostis alba, usually of creeping bent, or the form described 

 above under A. alba vulgaris. 



235. Calamagrostis Adans. — A large genus of peren- 

 nials growing in the cooler regions of all continents. 



Fig. 41. Calamagrostis scabra. Plant 

 reduced; spikelet, the floret raised from 

 the glumes, X3. (U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. 

 Agrost., Bull. 20.) 



