GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 617 



panicle. Spikelets greenish, ratlier large. (Name comjjoscd of opv^a, rice, and 

 oylns, likeness, Ironi a fancied rcscniblance to that grain ) 



* Styles distinct, short: culm leafy to the summit: leaves broad andjlat. 



1. O. melanoearpa, Mulil. Leaves lanceokte, taper-])ointed ; sheaths 

 bearded in tlic tlirout; panicle simple or sparingly branched; awn thrice the 

 lenyth of the blackish paltts (nearly 1' long). (Milium racemosum, Smith. Pip- 

 tatherum nigrum, 7wr.) — Rocky woods. Aug. — Culm 2° -3° high. 



* * Styles united below, slender: culms tufted , naked : leaves concave or involute. 



2. O. asperif61ia*, Michx. Culms (9'- 18' high) with sheaths bearing a 

 mere rudimentary blade, overtopped by the long and rigid linear leaf from the base ; 

 very simple panicle or raceme few-flowered ; awn 2-3 times the length of the rather 

 hairy whitish palets. (Unichre, Trin.) — Hillsides, &c., in rich woods: common 

 northward. May. — Leaves without keels, rough-edged, pale beneath, lasting 

 through the winter. SquamulaB lanceolate, almost as long as the inner palet! 



3. O. Canadensis, Toir. Culms slender (6' - 15' high), the lowest 

 sheaths leaf-bearing; leaves involule-lhread-shaped; panicle contracted (l'-2' 

 long), the branches usually in pairs; palets pubescent, whitish ; awn short and 

 very deciduous, or wanting. (O. parviflora, A^u/^ Stipa juncea, il//c/ir. S. Can- 

 adensis, Po(V. Milium pungens, Torr. Urachne brevicaudata, Trin.) — Rocky 

 hills and dry plains, W. New England to mountains of Penn., Wisconsin, and 

 northward: rare. May. — Glumes l"-2" long, sometimes purplish. 



15. STIPA, L. FE.iTlIER-GRASS. (PI. 8.) 



Spikejcts 1 -flowered, terete; the flower falling away at maturity (with tne 

 conspicuous obconical bearded and often sharp-pointed callus) from the mem- 

 branaceous glumes. Lower palet coriaceous, cylindrical-involute and closely 

 embracing the smaller upper one and the cylindrical grain, having a long 

 and twisted or tortuous simple awn jointed with its apex. Stamens mostly 3. 

 Stigmas plumose. — Perennials, with narrow involute leaves and a loose 

 panicle. (Name from (TTvnr)-, tow, in allusion to the flaxen appearance of the 

 feathery awns of the original species. In our species the awn is naked.) 

 * Callus or base of the flower short and blunt : glumes pointless. 



1. S. Richardsbnii, Link. Culm (l^°-2° high) and leaves slender; 

 panicle loose (4' -.5' long), with slender few-flowered branches; glumes nearly 

 equal, oblong, acutish (2^" long), about equalling the pubescent linear-oblong 

 lower palet, which i)ears a tortuous awn 6" -8" long. — Pleasant Mountain, 

 near Sebago Lake, Maine, C. J. Sprague, and northwestward. (Flowers rather 

 smaller than in Richard^son's plant, as described.) 



* * Callus or base of the flower pungenti y pointed, at maturity villous-bearded : lower 

 jiaUt slender and minutely bem-ded at the tip : glumes taper-pointed. 



2. S. aven^cea, L. (Black 0.a.t-Grass.) Culm slender (1°- 2° high) ; 

 leaves almost bristle-form ; panicle open ; palets blackish, nearly as long as ilw glnmrs 

 (about 4" long) ; the awn bent above, twisted below (2'-3' long). — Dry or sandy 

 woods, S. New England to Wisconsin, and southward. July. 



3. S. spartea, Trin., not of Hook. (Pokcux'ink Gkass.) Culm rathe. 



L & M— 46 



