ORDER 15G. GRAMINE^E. 775 



6. A. elata Trin. TJLLLER Tiny GRASS. Culm erect, rigid, thin, simple, rattier 

 stout, 2 Zfhigh, leafy; Ivs. broadly (1 2") linear, scabrous, flat, 6 8' long, the 

 sheaths scarcely smooth; panicle purple, contracted, with long, whorled, erect- 

 spreading branches dense-flowered half their length; glumes lanceolate, li", tho 

 the upper a little longer than the 5-veined pale. Swamps, N. Jer. to G-a., Ala. and 

 Ky. (Jackson). JL, Aug. (T. elatum Ph. A. altissimum Tuckm.) 



5. SPOROB'OLUS Brown. DROP-SEED GRASS. (Gr. onopd, seed, 

 |3a/U,GJ, to cast.) Spikelets 1 -flowered; glumes 2, unequal, the lower 

 smaller ; fl. sessile ; palere 2, beardless, awnless, usually exceeding the 

 glumes, the upper 2-keeled ; stam. 2 or 3 ; stig. plurnous Avith simple 

 hairs j caryopsis free, often with a loose pericarp, deciduous. Tough, 

 wiry grasses with mostly rolled and rigid leaves and the panicles more 

 or less contracted. 



Grain (caryopsis) linrar-cylindric. Glumes subequal Nos. 1, 2 



>LI;S. Grain oval or globoiis. some loose in the pericarp. (*) 



YlI-FA. 



SPOnOBOLUS. 



* Glumes very unequal, one of them as long as the paleas. " (a) 



a Panicle open and stalked, pyramidal Nos. 8, 4 



a Panicle sheathed at the base more or less Nos. 5, 6 



* Glumes somewhat equal, both shorter than the paleac. (b) 



b Panicle contracted and spike-like, sheathed or not Nos. T, 8 



b Panicle open and stalked, long and raceine-like Nos. 9, 10 



1 S. Virginicus Beauv. Culms numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at 

 base, branched, about a foot long; Ivs. somewhat 2-rowcd f involute, rigid, erect, 

 2 3' long, with smooth sheaths which are hairy at the throat and swollen with 

 the enclosed panicles; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones 

 concealed; glumes nearly equal, nearly as long as the subequal palece. It Sandy 

 eoils, Middle and S. States. Sept., Oct. (Agrost. L.) 



2 S. vaginceflorus Torr. Culms simple, ascending, slender, forming tufts G 12' 

 high ; Ivs. involute-subulate, rather rigid, short (24') ; panicles contracted, spike 

 form, lateral and terminal, mostly concealed in the sheaths ; glumes about equal, 

 i:ad equaling the subequal pales; caryopsis linear, a third shorter than the pales. 

 (J) Dry, gravelly fields, U. S. more common "W. and S. (Agr. Mu^l. Crypsis, Nutt.) 



3 S. heterolepis. Culm 1 2f high, smooth ; Ivs. setaceous, somewhat convo- 

 lute, scabrous on the margins ; lower slieaihs pubescent, upper ones smooth ; panicle 

 spreading, pyramidal, few-flowered ; glumes purplish, very unlike, outer one subuli- 

 Jorm, inner one ovate, cuspidate, membranaceous in texture, 1-veined; pales ob- 

 long, obtuse, thin, a little shorter than the superior glume, the lower 1-veined, api- 

 culate, the upper 2- veined, shorter; sta. 3; anth. linear, reddish; fr. roundish, 

 smooth. Conn, to "Wise, not rare, Aug., Sept. (Vilfa, Gray.) 



4 S. junceus Mich. Glaucous; culm erect, 1 2fhigh, terete, slender; Ivs. erect, 

 2 6" by 1", concave, convolute when dry, margin scabrous; sheaths much 

 shorter than the intsrnodes; st!p. sliort; pan. oblong-pyramidal, branches verti- 

 cillate, about in Cs ; glumes purple, similar, lanceolate, acute, upper as long as tho 

 palea3, the lower twice shorter ; palea subequal; anth. and sty. whitish. 14 Penn, 

 to Fior. aud La,, in barrens. Aug. Oct. 



5 S. cryptandrus Gray. Culm 2 Sfhigh; Ivs. broadly (2") linear, flat; sheaths 

 bearded at the throat ; panicle pyramidal, its base enclosed by the terminal sheath, 

 branches spreading, hairy in the axil3 ; Us. bluish ; pales subequal, as long as the 

 upper glume, twice longer than the lower. Dry, sandy soils, \V. and S. States, 

 rare, northward. Aug. (Agr. & Vilfii cryptandra Torr.) 



6 S. asper Kunth. Rt. white, fibrous ; culm stout, glabrous, geniculato at base, 

 2f high; Ivs. rigid, involute, rough-edged, 2 S' by 1 3", tapering to a pungent 

 point; branches with short leaves, barren, also ending in a long, pungent point; 

 sheaths ciliate at edge and bearing dense tufts of long, white hairs at top ; panicky 

 terminal and lateral, nearly enclosed in the long sheaths; spikelets blackish-green; 

 lower glume very short, upper a little longer than the pales ; fr. compressed, obo- 

 vate " ia length. 1C Ohio, (Sullivant) to III (Agrost. MX. Vilfa, Ueauv.) 



7 S. longifolitis. Culms slender, tufted, 2 3f high, from long fibrous roots; 

 Ivs. all involute, very long (1 3f), tapering to a long thread-liko point; panic!* 



