GRAMINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 621 



ulate-awned. Stamens 3 : anthers orange-colored or red. Rudimentary flowers 

 mostly 1 -Sawned. Spikes solitary, raceined or spiked ; the rhacliis somewhat 

 extended beyond the spikelets. (Named for Claudius Boutdou, a Spanish writer 

 upon floriculture and agriculture.) 



§ I. CHONDROSIUM, Dcsv. Spites pectinate, of very mam/ spikelets, oblong 

 or linear, verij dense, solitari/ mid terminal or few in a raceme : sterile Jiowers 

 \ -3 ana slinrt pnlicel, neutral, consisting of 1-3 scales and awns. 



1. B. oligost^ehya, Torr. Glabrous, perennial (6' -12' high); leaves 

 very narrow ; spikes 1 - .5, the rhachis glabrous ; glumes and lower fertile pali-t 

 sparingly sofl-liairy ; the lobes awl-pointed ; sterile flower copiously oillous-tufted 

 at the summit of the naked pedicel, its 3 awns equalling the larger glume. 

 (Atberopogon, NuU.) — 'S. W. Wisconsin and westward. — Glumes obscurely 

 if at all papillose along the keel. Middle lobe of the lower palet 2-cleft at the 

 tip Sterile flowers often 2, the second mostly a large awnless scale, becoming 

 liood-like and coriaceous. (Near B. gracilis : perhaps B. juncifolia, Fjk].) 



2. B. hirstlta, Lagasca. Tufted, annual.' (8'- 20' high); leaves flat, 

 lance-linear, papillose-hairy or glabrous; spikes 1-4; upper glume hispid with 

 strong bristles from dark ivurtif glands ; lower palet pubescent, 3clcft into awl- 

 pointed lobes ; stei-ile flower and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns longer than the 

 glumes and fertile flower. (Atheropogon papillosus, Engchn. Chondrosium 

 hirtum, H. D. K.) — Sandy plains, Wisconsin, Illinois, and southwestward. 



§ 2. ATHEROPOGON, Muhl. Spikes short, numerous in a long and virgate 

 one-sided spike or raceme, spreading or rcflexed, each of few (4-12) spikelets: 

 sterile flowers neutral, rudimentary. 



3. B. curtipendula, Gray. Culms tufted from perennial rootstocks 

 (l°-3° high) ; sheaths often haii'y ; leaves narrow; spikes ^' or less in length, 

 nearjy sessile, 30 to 60 in number in a loose general spike (8' - 1 5' long) ; flowers 

 scabrous ; the lower palet of the fertile with 3 short awl-pointed teeth ; sterile 

 flower reduced to a single small awn, or mostly to 3 aAvns shorter than the fer- 

 tile flower, and I or 2 small or minute scales. (B. racemosa, Lagasca. Chloris 

 curtipendula, Michx. Atheropogon apludioides, Muhl. Eutriana curtipendula, 

 Trin.) — Dry hills and plains, S. New York to Wisconsin, and southward. 

 July -Sept. — Passes by transitions into, Var. akistosa, with spikes shorter; 

 sterile flower of a large saccate lower palet, awned at the 2-eleft tip and from the 

 lateral nerves, the middle awn exserted, and with a rudiment of an inner palet 

 (Eutriana affinis, ./. D. Hook.) — Illinois (Gcyer), and .southward. 



20. GYMNOPOGON, Beauv. Naked-beakd Grass. (PI. 9.) 



Spikelets of one perfect flower, and the rudiment of a second (consisting of 

 an awn-like pedicel mostly bearing a naked bristle), sessile .ind remotely alter- 

 nate on long and ttliform rays or s])ikes, which form a crowded naked raceme. 

 Glumes lance-awl-.>ihaped, keeled, almost equal, rather longer than the some- 

 what equal membranaceous palcts ; of which the lower is cylindrical-involute, 

 with the midrib produced from just below the 2-cleft apex into a straight and 

 slender bristle-like awn ; the ujjpcr with the abortive rudiment at its base. 



