626 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



der {grasses, with simple iukI tufto<l culms, and often sparsely downy sheaths, 

 flat lower leaves, and .small greenish (or rarely purplish-tinged) spikclets. 

 (Named for Prof. Amos Juiloii, author of a popular Manual of the Botany of the 

 United States, wliieh wiui for a long time the only general work available for 

 students in this country, and of other popular treatises.) 



1. E. obtUS^ta, Gray. Panicle dense and contacted, somewhat intcrriif)ted, 

 rarely slender ; the spikelets crowded on the short erect branches ; upper ylume 

 rounded-ohotate, truncate-oUuse, longh on the back ; flowers lance-oblong. (Aira 

 obtusata, Mklix. A. truncata, Muhl. Koelcria truncata, Torr. K. paniculata, 

 Nutt. Reboulea gracilis, yv»«</i, in part. 11. obtusata, AW. 1. Eatonia purpu- 

 niscens, Raf.?) — Dry soil, N. reunsylvania to Wisconsin, and southward. 

 June, July. 



2. E. Pennsylv^nica, Gray. Panicle Ion(/ and slender, hose, the rnccmosc 

 branches somewliat elongated ; upper (/lume obtuse or bluntly somewhat pointed ; 

 the 2 (rarely 3) flowers lanceolate. ( Kalcria Pennsylvanlca, Z>C Aira mollis, 

 Muld. Reboulea Tennsylvanica, Ed. 1.) — Varies, with a fuller panicle, 6'- 8' 

 long, with the aspect of Cinna (var. major, Torr.) ; and, rarely, with the lower 

 palet minutely mucronatc-pointcd ! — IMoist woods and meadows : common. 



31. MELICA, L. Melic-Grass. (PI. 10.) 



Spikclets 2 - 5-flowercd ; the 1 - 3 upper flowers imperfect and dissimilar, con- 

 volute around each other, and enwrapped by the upper fertile flower. Glumes 

 usually large, scarious-niargined, convex, obtuse ; the upper 7 - 9-nerved. Palets 

 papery-membranaceous, dry and sometimes indurating with age ; the lower 

 rounded or flattish on the back, 7 - many-nerved, scarious at the entire blunt 

 summit. Stamens 3. Stigmas branchcd-plumose. — Perennials with soft and 

 flat leaves. Panicle simple or sparingly branched ; the rather large spikelets 

 racemose-one sided. (An old name, from /xe'Xi, honey.) 



1. M. mtltica, Walt. Panicle simple or branched ; glumes unequal, the 

 larger almost equalling the spikelet ; fertile flowers 2 ; lower palet naked, 

 glabrous minutely scabrous on the nerves. (M. glabra, M/c/i.t. M. speciosa, 

 Muhi.) — Var. gi.Xbra (M. glabra, Pursh) has the jjanicle often few-flowered 

 and rather simple, the lower palet very blunt. — Var. diffusa (M. difi'usa, 

 Pursh) is taller, 2i°-4° high, with a more compound and many-flowered pani- 

 cle ; the lower palet commonly more scabrous and its tip narrower. — Rich soil, 

 S. E. Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, and southward. June. 



32. GLYCERIA, R. Br., Trin. Manna-Grass. (P1. 10.) 



Spikelets terete or flattish, several - many-flowered ; the flowers mostly early 

 deciduous by the breaking up of the rhachis into joints, leaving the short and 

 uneijual 1 -3-nervcd membranaceous glumes behind. Palets naked, of a rather 

 firm texture, nearly equal ; the lower rounded on the back, scarious (and some- 

 times obscurely toothed) at the blunt or rarely acute summit, glabrous. 5 - 7- 

 nerved, the nerves parallel and separate. Stamens 3, or in the first section 

 commonly 2. Stigmas plumose, mostly conipouiul. Ovary smooth. Grain 

 oblong, free. — Perennial, smooth marsh-grasses, mostly with creeping bases or 



