792 ORDER 15 G. GRAMINE^E. 



Ivs. smoothish, on sheaths more or less hairy or almost smooth ; pan. large, 6 to 

 10' long, branches subsimple, whorled ; spikelets smooth, lance-ovate, much com- 

 pressed, 2-edged, 1' long, as wide, 8 to 12-flowered; lower glurne 3, upper 6- 

 veined; lower pale 7 to 9-veined, much larger than the strongly 2-keeled upper, 

 with scarcely any awn. CD Cultivated at the South (in 1357) from seeds distri- 

 buted by the government, but proved no better than our Chess. \ Peru. 



5 B. ciliatus L. Culm erect, smooth, 2 to 4f high ; Ivs. flat, some pubescent, 6 

 to 12' long, on sheaths more or less pilous with deflexed hairs ; pan. large, erect, 

 5 to 8' long, finally nodding, branches in 2s and 4s, compound ; spikelets at first 

 lance-fusiform, 7 to 11 -flowered, the fls. soon separating; glumo lower 1, upper 3- 

 veined; pales compressed-carinate above, silky-haired near the margins, twice 

 longer than the straight awn. 2f Damp woods along rivers, U. S. and Can. Jn., 

 JL (B. Canadensis MX. B. pubescens Muhl. B. purgans, Ed. 2.) 



p. PURGANS. Pan. more open; spkl. silky-hairy all over. Mid. and S. 

 States. 



6 B. tectoram L. Culm slender, 1 to 3f, pubescent above; Ivs. pubescent,* 

 sheaths ciliato with few long hairs ; pan. compound, at length 1-sided and nod- 

 ding ; pedicels capillary ; spikelets linear-oblong, minutely downy, about b-flowered ; 

 glumes lower 1-, upper 3-veined ; lower pale 3-veined, carinate, scarious-edged, 

 lance-subulate, scarcely as long as its awn. (FJ N. York (Sartwell), Penn. (Jack- 

 son). (B. sterilis Torr.) 



31. TRICUS'PIS, Beauv. (Lat. tres, three, cuspis, a point ; refer- 

 ring to the structure of the lower pale.) Spikelets terete or tumid, 3 

 to 9-flowered, upper flower abortive ; glumes 2, unequal, awnless ; pales 

 2, the lower larger, hairy-fringed along the keel and the 2 lateral veins, 

 and ending in 3 short cusps or mucrones (the projecting veins and mid- 

 vein) and 2 intermediate teeth, upper pale 2-toothed ; stamens 1 to 3 ; 

 stigmas plumous ; caryopsis smooth, free, 2-horned. Erect, simple. 

 Pan. mostly with racemous branches. 



1 T. seslerioides Torr. FALSE RED-TOP. Culm hard and firm, glabrous, 4 to 

 5f high; Ivs. glabrous, linear, involute when dry, sheaths hairy at the throat; 

 pan. open, loose, 8 to 12' long, the slender branches at length spreading ; spikl te- 

 retish, lanceolate, about 5-flowcred, purple, 2 to 3" long ; cusps of the lower pale 

 very short. If A splendid grass, in dry fields, N. Eng. to 111. and S. States. 

 Aug., Sept. (Poa MX. Windsoria poasformis Nutt. Uralepis cuprea Kunth.) 

 A variety has smaller, 3 to 5-ilowcred, pale purple spikelcts and flexuous branches. 

 Another var. has the spikelets white. 



2 T. ambigua Kunlh. Culm strictly erect, 2 to 4f high, slender and firm, 

 glabrous as well as the linear, convolute-filiform Ivs., and the sheaths which aro 

 scarce half the lengtji of the internodes ; pan. contracted, small, 3 to 5' long ; spike- 

 lets few, subsessile, ovate turgid, 5 to 7 -flowered, {he fls. at length divaricate, moro 

 or less purple. 1^. Car. to Ga. and La. Spkl. not longer, but much thicker than 

 in No. 1. Sept. (Poa, Ell.) 



3 T. stricta. Glabrous ; culm slender, firm, erect, 3 to 6f high ; pan. very strict, 

 spite-like, dense ; spkl. sessile, fiat, nearly as broad as long, 7 to 9-flowered ; glumes 

 lance-linear, much longer than the pales, about as long as the spikelets. If Miss. 

 and La. Lvs. very long, flat. Pan. about 6' long, G" wide. A singular grass, 

 (Windsoria Nutt.) 



32. URAL'EPIS, Nutt. SAND GRASS. (Gr. ovpd, tail, Aerr^, a scale ; 

 a characteristic name.) Spikelets 2 to 5-flowered, fls. distant ; glumes 

 2, shorter than the flowers, unequal, awnless ; pales 2, very unequal, 

 both conspicuously fringe-bearded along the 2 or 3 veins, the lower 2- 

 cleft, with the midvein produced into a short, straight awn between tho 

 2 segments ; upper 2-keeled. Culms decumbent, branched. Pan. small, 

 the branches racemed. 



1 U. purpfcrea Nutt. Cacspitous; culms procumbent at base, bearded at the 



