664 &RAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



lower smaller ; flowering glume membranaceo-herba,ceous, with a delicate sca- 

 rious margin, compressed-keeled, pointless, 5-nerved (the intermediate nerves 

 more obscure or obsolete), the principal nerves commonly clothed with soft 

 hairs at and toward the often cobwebby base ; palet membranaceous, 2-toothea. 

 Stamens 2 or 3. Stigmas simply plumose. Grain oblong, free. Culm* 

 tufted, from perennial roots, except n. 1. Leaves smooth, usually flat anc* 

 soft. (n6a, an ancient Greek name for grass or fodder.) 



* Low and spreading (3 - 6' high) from an annual or biennial root, flaccid ; 



branches of the short panicle single or in pairs. 



P. ANNUA, L. (Low SPEAR-GRASS.) Culms flattened; panicle often 1. 

 sided, usually short and pyramidal, sometimes more slender (P. cristata, 

 Chapm.) ; spikelets crowded, very short-pedicelled, 3 - 7-flowered. Culti 

 vated and waste grounds, everywhere. April -Oct. (Nat. from Eu.) 



# * Low; the culms (6-20' long) geniculate-ascending from a running rootstock^ 



rigid, very much flattened ; panicle simple and contracted. 



P. COMPRESSA, L. (WIRE-GRASS. ENGLISH BLUE-GRASS.) (PI. 10, fig. 

 1 - 4. ) Pale, as if glaucous ; leaves short ; panicle dense and narrow, some' 

 what one-sided (1 - 3' long), the short branches mostly in pairs ; spikelets almost 

 sessile, 3-10-flowered, flat. Dry, mostly sterile soil, in waste places; rarely 

 in woods. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* # # Low alpine or alpestrine species, erect, in perennial tufts. 



+- Soft and flaccid, smooth or nearly so, even to the branches of the panicle ; leaves 



short and flat, short-pointed ; ligule elongated. 



1. P. alplna, L. Culms rather stout (8 - 14' high) ; leaves broadly linear, 

 especially those of the culm (1^-2' long, 1-^ - 3" wide) ; panicle short and broad ; 

 spikelets broadly ovate, 3 - 9-flowered (about 3" long) ; flowering glume vil- 

 lous on the midrib and margins. N. Maine (?), Isle Royale and north shore 

 of Lake Superior, and northward. (Eu.) 



2. P. laxa, Haenke. Culms slender (4- 9' high) ; leaves narrow ; panicle 

 somewhat raceme-like, narrow, often one-sided and nodding ; spikelets 2 - 4-flow- 

 ered, one half smaller. Alpine mountain-tops of Maine, N. H., and N. New 

 York, and high northward. (Eu.) 



H- *- More strict and rigid, roughish, especially the panicle ; ligule short. 



3. P. nemoralis, L. Culms 6 - 20' high ; leaves narrow, short, soon in 

 volute ; branches of the panicle 2-5 together, very scabrous ; spikelets purplish 

 (or sometimes pale), 2-5-flowered; lower glumes ovate-lanceolate and taper 

 pointed, the flowering lanceolate, somewhat webby at base, villous on the keel 

 and margins below the middle, its nerves obscure. (P. caesia, Smith.) The 

 more common form has a usually narrow somewhat nodding panicle, witK short 

 ascending branches, the small pale or purplish spikelets 2-flowered. Lab. to 

 N. Maine and N. Vt. ; Lake Champlain (Pringle) ; N. shore of L. Superior 

 to N. Iowa, and westward. A form with somewhat stouter and stricter habit, 

 the darker or often pale spikelets 3 - 5-flowered (P. caesia, var. strictior, Gray), 

 corresponds nearly to the European P. caesia. High mountains of N. H. and 

 Vt., and Gardner's Island, L. Champlain ( C. E. Faxon), Isle Royale and N. 

 shore of L. Superior, and westward. Also a form with the branches of the 

 short panicle broadly divaricate; N. Wise. (Lapham). (Eu.J 



