TOO 



ORDER 156. GR AMINES. 



numerous spikelets which are 7 to 11-flowered and only 1J" long; pales hyaline, 

 ovate, pointed, 3-vcincd. X 1 Car. to Ga. and La. (Poa conferta Ell.) The 2 palea 

 fall together. 



5 E. nitida. Culm erect, glabrous and polished as well as the whole plant, 12 to 

 20'. Lvs. long, linear, involute when dry, with a few hairs at top of sheath ; 

 pan. diffuse, much longer than the culm; spikelets lanceolate, about S-flowered, 

 hyaline glumes and pales sharply serrulate on tho keel. S. Car. and adjacent 

 islands. Jn. Aug. (Poa nitida Ell.) 



6 E. Mrsuta. Culm subsimple, compressed, erect, 1 2f; Ivs. lance-linear, attenu- 

 ate at end, surpassing the stem, hairy at base ; sheaths loose, longer than the inter- 

 nodes, lower ones hairy, upper ones smooth ; stip. fringed ; panicle very large, 

 capillary, branches spreading, reflexed in fruit, hirsute in the axils ; spikelets ob- 

 long, 2 to 3", purplish, 5 to 16-flowered, long pedicelled; pale ovate, acute, dis- 

 tinctly 3-veined, upper ciliate. 11 Sandy fields, U. S. Jl., Aug. The rachis 

 never (?) becomes pectinate. (Poa hirsute, MX.) Varies with the Ivs. and sheaths 

 nearly smooth and spikelets larger (P. spectabilis Ph.) Also with the whole pani- 

 cle, except the spikelets, hirsute like the axils. And thirdly, with tho spikelets 

 racemously appressed along the branchlets (P. refracta Ell.) 



7 E. Purshii Schrad. Culm decumbent at base, ascending G to 12 or 20'; Ivs. 

 subulate, 1 to 3' long, upper surface rough ; sheaths very hairy at throat ; pan. 

 long and loose, the lower branches, or all, hairy in their axils ; ped. capillar}-, 

 longer than tho spikelets which are lance-oblong; 5 to 12-flowered; pales merely 

 acute, purplish. CD Dry fields, Md. to Ga,, common. Jl., Aug. (P. tenella ? Ph. 

 EH.) 



8 E. capillaris Nees. Culm branched at base, smooth, 1 to 2f ; Ivs. linear, at- 

 tenuated above, flat, smooth ; sheaths striate, with long hairs about the throat 

 and margin; stip. short; pan. very large (near a foot long) with diffusely spread- 

 ing, capillary branches,' axils not bearded, or the lower slightly ; spikelets ovate, 

 acute, about 3-flowered, on rather rigid, long, capillary pedicels ; pales scabrous, 

 f" long, acute, the 2 side veins scarcely visible. Dry grounds, U. S. Aug. 



9 E. trichodes. Culm simple, 12 to 20', erect ; Ivs. long (10 to 18"), rough, 

 thinly hairy, as well as the sheaths, throat with long hairs ; pan. rather longer than 

 culm, narrow, capillary, only the lower axils bearded ; spikelets not colored, 2 to 

 5 (mostly 3) -flowered ; pales and gls. hyaline, distinctly 3-veined, lanceolate, l^' 1 

 long. U Sandy soils, S. and "W. States. (P. trichodes Nutt. P. tenuis Ell.) 



10 E. erythrogona Nces. Culms very branching, in tufts, ascending 3 to 10' ,' 

 joints a narrow red ring ; Ivs. narrow, convolute when dry. tho upper about equal- 

 ing the oblong, rather dense panicle ; spikelets 2 to 5 (mostly 3)-flowered, 1 to H" 

 long, bluish ; gls. lanceolate ; pales ovate, all acute and nearly veinless. (1) Wasto 

 and cultivated grounds, Penn. (Jackson) to 111. and South. Whole plant bluish. 



40. PO'A, L. SPEAR GRASS. MEADOW GRASS. (Gr. Troa, grass.) 

 Spikelets 2 to 5 (rarely 9)-flowered, compressed ; glumes subequal, point- 

 less, shorter than the contiguous flowers ; pales herbaceous, soft-awnless, 

 the lower compressed-carinate, 5-veined, usually clothed on the veins 

 below with a cobweb-like, matted wool, the upper pale bicarinate ; stig- 

 mas simply plumous; caryopsis free. Smooth grasses with soft flat Ivs., 

 the fls. paniculate. 



H Branches of the panicle in 2s, 8s, or often single. (*) 



Flowers not webbed, merely pubescent on the back, (a) 



a Annual. Panicle dense with subsessile spikelets No. 1 



a Perennial. Panicle loose, spikelets long-pedicellate Nos 2 3 



Flowers webbed. Spikelets mostly 2-tiowered, 2". Pan. very slender! .' .' ." .' .' .' .". . . .No.' 4 



Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, many, panicle ditfuse Nos. 5, G 



few (4 to S). Mountains No. 7 



. . . t , . bpikelets mostly 5-flowered, ovate, short-pedicelled Nos. 8, 9 



T Branches of the panicle in about 5s, half-whorled. (b) 



b Spikelets 2 to 4-flowered, obtuse, pedicellate, loose No 10 



acute, pedicellate, very loose .' . . .".Nos. ll! 12 



b Spikelets 3 to 5-flow<?rcd, subsessile in rather dense panicles Nos. 13J 14 



1 P. anmaa L. ANNUAL SPEAR GRASS. Culms decumbent and rooting at the 



