GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 657 



sometimes simply awned, larger than the palet. Stamens 2 or 3. Seed 

 closely enclosed. Ours annuals. Leaves flat. (Name composed of ACTTTOS, 

 slender, and x^a, grass, from the long attenuated spikes.) 



1. L. mucronata, Kunth. Sheaths hairy; spikes numerous (20-40, 

 2-4' in length), in a long panicle-like raceme ; spikelets small; glumes more 

 or less mucronate, nearly equalling or exceeding the 3-4 awnless flowers. 

 Fields, Va. to 111., Mo., and southward. Aug. 



49. B U C H L O E, Engelm. BUFFALO GRASS. (PI. 15.) 



Spikelets dioecious (rarely monoecious), very unlike; the staminate 2-3- 

 flowered, sessile in 2 rows in short 1 -sided spikes, the empty glumes blunt, 

 1 -nerved, very unequal, the flowering larger, 3-nerved, a little exceeding the 

 2-nerved palet ; fertile spikelets 1-flowered, in a contracted, capitate, 1-sided 

 spike, the large outer glumes indurated, 3-fid at the apex, united at base and 

 resembling an involucre, the inner (lower) much smaller and membranaceous, 

 or in the lowest spikelet resembling the outer ; flowering glume narrow, hya- 

 line, bifid or nearly entire, enclosing the 2-nerved palet. Styles distinct. 

 Grain ovate, free. A perennial, creeping or stolon if erous, with narrow flat 

 leaves; staminate spikes (2-3) in a pedunculate spike, the pistillate pair ses- 

 sile in the broad sheaths of the upper leaves. (Name a contraction of Buba- 

 lochlo't, from ftovfiaXos, buffalo, and X A <^, grass.) 



1. B. dactyloides, Engelm. Low (3-8' high) and broadly tufted; 

 sterile spikes 3 - 6" long, the fertile heads 3" long. Plains of the Sask. to 

 Minn., Kan., and Tex. One of the most valuable grasses of the plains. 



50. TRIODIA, E.Br. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 3 - 12-flowered, somewhat terete, the rhachis with bearded joints; 

 terminal flower abortive. Empty glumes unequal ; flowering glumes mem- 

 branaceous or somewhat chartaceous, much larger than the 2-toothed palet, 

 convex, 2 - 3-toothed or cleft at the apex, conspicuously hairy-bearded or vil- 

 lous on the 3 strong nerves, of which the lateral are marginal or nearly so 

 and usually excurrent, as is the mid-nerve especially, into a short cusp or awn. 

 Stamens 3. Stigmas dark purple, plumose. Grain oblong, nearly gibbous. 

 Leaves taper-pointed ; sheaths bearded at the throat. Panicle simple or com- 

 pound ; the spikelets often racemose, purplish. (Name from rpi-, three, and 

 68065, a tooth, alluding to the flowering glume.) 

 I. TRIODIA proper. Glumes shorter than the crowded flowers, the flowering 



one ^-cuspidate by the projection of the nerves, and usually with intermediate 



membranaceous teeth ; palet naked. 



1. T. ctlprea, Jacq. (TALL RED-TOP.) Perennial; culm upright (3-5 

 high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves; panicle large and compound, the 

 rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below ; spikelets very numerous, 

 5 - 7-flowered, shining, purple (4" long) ; the flowering glumes hairy toward 

 the base, their points almost equal, scarcely exceeding the intermediate teeth, 

 thus appearing 5-toothed. (Tricuspis seslerioides, Torr.) Dry or sandy 

 fields, southern N. Y. to Mo., and southward. Aug. A showy grass, with 

 the spreading panicle sometimes 1 wide. 



