ORDER 156. GRAMINE^E. 795 



glume about as long but very much narrower than the obovate, obtuse, puberu- 

 lent upper one ; pales scarious at summit, a little exserted. Penn. (Jackson) 

 to Wis. (Lapham), and S. States. Jn., Jl. (Aira, MX. A. truncata Muhl. Koe- 

 leria Torn, and Ed. 1. R. paniculata Nutt. Reboulea, Kunth. E. purpuras 

 cons Raf.) 



2 E. Pennsylvania Gray. Erect, tufted, minutely puberulent, usually about 

 2f high ; Ivs. flat, short, 1 to 3' by 2" ; pan. slender, open, usually with diverg- 

 ing branches, and 5 to 10' long; spikelets rather loose, l"long; upper glume 

 abruptly short-pointed ; pales acutish, exserted half their length. Rocky woods 

 and meadows, U. S. and Can., frequent but not abundant. The larger varieties 

 are very elegant. Jn., Jl. (Aira mollis Muhl. Kceleria DC. Reboulea, Kunth., 

 Gray.) ' 



38. MEL'ICA, L. MELIC GRASS. (Lat. mel, honey.) Glumes 2, 

 unequal, membranous, obtuse, 2 to 5-flowered ; flowers a little longer 

 than the glumes, the upper incomplete and more or less contorted; 

 pales truncate, veiny, as well as the glumos ; caryopsis free, not fur- 

 rowed. Lvs. flat. Spikelets pedicellate, in a subsimple panicle. 



M. mfttica "Walt. Culm 3 4f high, glabrous ; Ivs. linear, flat, pubescent beneath ; 

 stip. lacerate; panicle glabrous, loose, few-flowered, erect or a little nodding, 

 branches simple, solitary; spikelets 6 8" long; lower glume shorter, very 

 smooth ; paleae veined ; upper fl. neuter, pedicellate, consisting of very short, 

 roundish pales often twisted together. if. Rich upland soil, Penn. to Wis. and S. 

 States. Varies, with a panicle reduced to a mere raceme. Jn. (M. glabra MX. 

 M. speciosa Muhl.) 



39. ERAGROS'TIS, Beauv. Spikelets 5 to oo(rarely fewer)-flowered, 

 compressed ; glumes and fls. membranous ; lower pale carinate, 3-veincd, 

 not webbed, upper pale persistent on the flexuous rachis after the free 

 caryopsis has fallen with the lower. Hairy or roughish grasses with 

 involute Ivs., sheaths at throat and axil of branches often bristly and fls. 

 in panicles, the branches mostly scattered. (Poa, L.) 



Spikelets few-flowered (fls. 2 to 4, rarely more) Nos. 10, 9, 3 



Spikelets many-flowered (fls. 5 to 30). (b) 



b Panicle diffuse, capillary, longer than the rest of the culm Nos. 7, 6, 5 



b Panicle contracted, rather dense. Culms decumbent below Nos. 4, 3, 2 



Culms procumbent, creeping No. 1 



1 E. reptans Nees. Culm branched, creeping, rooting at the joints, 6 12' ; Ivs. 

 subulate, flat, 2 3' long ; sheaths open, pilous on the margin and throat ; pan. 

 1 2' long, branches short, simple, in fascicles, few-flowered ; spikelets linear- 

 lanceolate, with 1220 acuminate flowers. On sandy banks of rivers, N. Y. 

 to Ky. and La. JL, Aug. The plant is somewhat dioecious. 



2 B. poaeoides Beauv. Culm oblique or decumbent, geniculate, 1 2f long; 

 Ivs. lanceolate, attenuate at end, scabrous on the margin and above ; sheaths 

 pilous at the throat ; stip. short, bearded ; panicle expanding, branches subdivided, 

 flexuous, subpilous in the axils ; spikelets ovate-oblong, 12 20-flowered; glumes 

 nearly equal. (1) A fine-looking grass, fields and waste grounds, common. JL, 

 Aug. Eur. It has a strong, peculiar odor. Varies much ; the later growths 

 are in more dense tufts, with smaller spikelets. (E. megastachya Lk. P. Era- 

 grostis L.) 



3 E. pilosa L. Culms in tufts, geniculate, ascending, 6 to 12'; Ivs. narrow-linear, 

 or subulate, short ; sheaths slightly bearded at the throat ; pan. oblong, some of 

 the middle branches opposite ; spikekts linear, bluish, about as long (3 to 4") as 

 the pedicels, 6 to 12-floWered, the rachis at length becoming pectinate or serrulate 

 with the persistent upper pales. CD In sandy or gravelly waste places, Conn, 

 to Ga. and "W. States. JL, Aug. Eur. (E. peotinacea MX., a more appropriate 

 name, as the plant is scarcely pilous.) 



4 E. conferta Trin. Culm rather stout, geniculate below, branched, 2 to 3/; Iva. 

 broad-lanceolate, rough, flat, and sheaths naked; pan. long (5 to 12'), narrow, 

 branches and branchleta very numerous, suberect, each racemous with- tht small, 



