GRAMIXK^. (grass FAMILY.) 635 



all over ; awn only one tliinl the lcn<rth of the lance-oblong flower ; lower palet 

 7 - 9-ncrvccl, much longer and Iar;^cr than the nppcr; culm slender (15° -3° 

 hi,^■h) ; leaves and sheaths conspicuously ov sparingly liairy. (B. ciliiitus, Muhl. 

 B. piirgans, Toir. Fl. N. Y.) — Dry ground: common northward. June, Jidy. 

 • — This is in the herbarium of Linnasus under the name of B. ciliatns, but is 

 not the plant he described ; lliencc has arisen much confusion. 



§ 2. SCHED6N0RUS, Beauv., Tries. Lower palet somewhat com-ex, hut keeled 

 on the back and laterally more or less compressed, at least above: JJowers soon 

 separalinf] from each other: lower c/lume \-nervcd, the upper 3-nerred, or with an 

 obscure additional pair. 



* Perennial, lull (.3° -.5° hi'/h) : Jlowers oblong or lanceolate. 



5. B. eiliatus, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches 

 at length divergent, drooping ; spikelets 7 - 12-flowered ; lower palet tipped with 

 an awn half to three fourths its length, silky with apprcssed hairs near the 

 margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish on the back 

 (B. Canadensis, Michx. B. jndiesccns, Muhl.); — or, in var. ruEGANS (B. 

 purgans, Z. .'), clothed all over with short and fine apprcssed hairs. — Rivcf- 

 banks and moist woodlands : common. July, Aug. — Culm and large leaves 

 (.j''-G'' wide) smooth or somewhat hairy; the sheaths in the larger forms often 

 liairy or densely downy near the top. Variable, comprising several forms, in- 

 cluding both the Linna:an species ; for which the present name is preferable to 

 the inapplicable purgans, taken from Feuille'c's South American species. 



6. B. ASPEK, L. Culm slender and panicle smaller ; spikelets 5 - 9-flowered ; 

 lower palet linear-lanceolate, scarcely keeled, hairy near the margins, rather 

 longer than the awn ; sheaths and lower leaves hairy or downy. — Bethel, 

 Maine, in fields along the river-bank, W. Boott. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Annual or biennial (10' -30' high) : flowers slender. 



7. B. STEEiLis, L. Panicle open; spikelets of 5-9 rather distant and 7- 

 nerved ronghish linear-awl-shaped long-awned flowers (awn 1' long); leaves 

 rather downy. — Waste places and river-banks, E. Massachusetts, New York, 

 and Pennsylvania : rare. June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



39. UNIOLA, L. Spike-Grass. (PI. 11.) 



Spikelets closely many-flowered, very flat and 2-edged ; one or more of the 

 lowest flowers sterile (neutral) and consisting of a single palet. Glumes lance- 

 olate, compressed-keeled. Lower palet coriaceo-membranaceous, strongly lat- 

 erally compressed and keeled, striate-nerved, usually acute or pointed, entire, 

 enclosing the much smaller compressed 2-keeled upper one and the free laterally 

 flattened smooth grain. Stamen 1 (or in U. paniculata 3). — Upright smooth 

 perennials, growing in tufts from strong creeping rootstocks, with broad /taves 

 and large spikelets in an open or spiked panicle. (Ancient name of some plant, 

 a diminutive of unio, unity.) 



* Spikelets large (i'-2' long), ovate or ohlong, 9 - 30- flowered : panicle open. 



1. TJ. paniculata, L. Zeacts )Knro(r, when dry convolute; spikelets: ovate, 

 alurt-pedicelled ; flowers glabrous, bluntish, several of the lower sterile; the fer- 



