652 GRAMINE^, (gKASS FAMILY.) 



3. A. argenteus, Ell. Culms rather slender (l°-.3° high) ; spikes in 

 pairs (rarely in fours) on short mostly exserted and loosehj paniculate peduncles, 

 densely Jlowered (I' -2' long), very sil/ci/ ii-ilh Ion;/ brif/ht whilehairs. (A. argyrii'iis, 

 Scluilles. A. Elli(ittii, Cliapm.) — Delaware ( W. M. Caubij), Virginia, near the 

 coast, and southward. Sept., Get. 



4. A. Virgiuicus, L. Culm fiattish helow, slender (2°-3° high), .s/wr- 

 inglij shoii-branr/icil ulmrc, sheaths smooth ; siilkis 2 or 3 toyttlur in distant oppressed 

 clusters, shortir than their sfieat/iin;/ bracts, weak (1' long), the spikclets loose on the 

 iiliCorm rhachis, the soft hairs dull while. (A. vaginatus, Ell., a form with larger 

 and inflated sheaths.) — Sandy soil, E. Massaehusetts to Virginia, Illinois, and 

 southward. Sept., Oct. 



5. A. macrourus, Michx. Culm stout (2° -3° high), Imshij-hram-hcd al 

 tlie summit, loaded with very numerous spikes forming thick leafy clusters; sheaths 

 rough, the uppermost hairy; flowers nearly as in the preceding; the sterile 

 spikelet of each pair wholly wanting, its pedicel slender and very plumose. — 

 Low and sandy grounds. New York to Virginia, near the coast, and southward. 

 Sept., Oct. 



66. SORGHUM, Pcrs. Croo.m Corn. (PI. 14.) 



Spikclets 2-3 together on the ramifications of an open ])aniclc, the lateral 

 ones sterile or often reduced merely to their jjcdicels ; only the middle or ter- 

 minal one fertile, its glumes coriaceous or indurated, sometimes awnless : other 

 wise nearly as in Andropogon. Stamens 3. (The Asiatic name of S. vulgare 

 the Indian Millet, to which species belongs Guixea-Corx, Broom-Corn 

 the Sweet Sorghum, and other cultivated races.) 



1. S. ntltans, Gray. (Indian Grass. Wood-Grass.) Root perennial 

 culm simple (3° -5° high), terete; leaves linear-lanceolate, glaucous; sheaths 

 smooth ; panicle narrowly oblong, crowded or loose (C - 12' long) ; the perfect 

 spikclets at length drooping (yellowish or russet-hrown and shining), clothed, 

 especially towards the base, with fawn-colored hairs, lanceolate, shorter than the 

 twisted awn ; the sterile spikclets small and imperfect, deciduous, or reduced to 

 a mere plumose-hairy pedicel. (Andropogon nutans, Z.) — Dry soil : common, 

 especially southward, wlicre it runs into several marked varieties or perhaps 

 species (S. avenaccnm, nutans, and secundum, Chapman). Aug. -Oct. 



