G24 GRAMINE^. (GRASS FA.MILY.) 



1. T. seslerioides, Torr. (Tai.l Red-top.) Pcrcnniul ; cxilm upright 

 (3°-5°Iii<;h), very smooth, as are the flat loaves ; panicle large and compound, 

 the rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below ; spikelets very numerous, 

 5 - 7-flowercd, shining, purple (4" Ion-); tbc llowcrs hairy toward the base. 

 (Poa flava, Zy. .' V. se.slerioides, .il//r// r. V. iniin([iietida, /'mslt. Windsoria, 

 poaiformis, Nittt. Uralcpis cUprea, Kmii/i.) — Dry or sandy fields, S. Kew York 

 to Illinois and .southward. Aug. — A showy grass, with the spreading panicle 

 sometimes 1° wide. I'oiiits of the lower palet almost equal, scarcely e.xceedmg 

 the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. 



§2. TRIPLASIS, Beauv. (Diploeea, Rif. Uniiepis, Niitt.) Glumes much 

 shorter than the. somewhat remote flowers : loth palet s stronc/lij frinr/c-heardcd ; the 

 lower 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the trun- 

 cate or awn-poinled divisions. 



2. T. purpurea, Gray. (Sand-Grass.) Culms many in a tuft from the 

 same annual root, ascending (6' -12' high), with numerous bearded joints; 

 leaves involute-awl-shaped, mostly short; panicles very simple, bearing few 2- 

 5-flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually cxserted, the axillary ones included 

 in the commonly hairy sheaths; ciioii much shorter than the palet, seldom ercced- 

 imj its eroded-truncate or obtuse hitei-al lobes. (Aira purpurea, W<dt. Di])locea 

 harhata, 7?ri/! Uralcpis pnrjnirea and U. aristulata, iV(/«. ) — In sand, Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia along the coast, and southward : also Lake Erie, near 

 Bulfldo, G. W. Clinton. Aug., Sept. ^ Plant acid to the taste. 



(T. CORNUTA (Uralepis cornuta. Ell., and Triplasis Americana, Beauv.!) 

 may perhaps extend north to the borders of Virginia.) 



26. GRAPHEPHORUM, Desv. <Dup6ntia, R. Br.) (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 5-fiowered, rather terete. Glumes membranaceous, mostly nearly 

 equalling the remote flowers. A cluster of villous hairs at the base of each 

 flower. Palets thin and membranaceous or scarious ; the lower one convex, 

 scarcely keeled, faintly nerved, entire, pointless and awnless. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas plumose. Ovary glabrous. — Perennial and northern or arctic gras.ses, 

 with linear flat leaves, their sheaths closed at the base, the spikelets in a loose 

 panicle. (Genus allied to the Avcneaj, but awnless ; natncd from ypacfils, a pen- 

 cil, and (pepco, to bear, from the tufts of hair at the base of the flowers.) 



1. G. melieoides, Beauv. Culm 1°- 2° high; leaves roughish ; panicle 

 open ; glumes unequal, lanceolate, their midrib and the pedicels rough ; joints 

 of the rhachis unilaterally bearded between the 2-4 flowers. Grand Detour, 

 Upper Michigan, Prof. Porter, Shore of Moosehead Lake, Maine, C. E. Smith, 

 and northward : rare. — Var. m.\jor, Gray (Dupontia Cooleyi, of former ed.), 

 is a luxuriant form, 2° -3° iiigh, with ampler panicle; found on the borders 

 of a swamp, Washington, Macomb County, Michigan, by Dr. Conleip Aug. 



27. DIARRHENA, Raf Diakuuena. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost 

 flowers sterile. Glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous ; the 

 lower one much smaller. Lower" palet ovate, convex on the back, rigidly cori- 



