(GRASS FAMILY.) 665 



* * * * Taller (1-3) meadow or woodland grasses ; panicle open. 

 *- Spikelets mostly very numerous and crowded on the rather short rough branches 

 (usually in Jives) of the oblong or pyramidal panicle, green, or sometimes 

 violet-tinged ; flowers acute, crowded, more or less webbed at base. 



4. P. serotina, Ehrhart. (FALSE RED-TOP. FOWL MEADOW-GRASS.^ 

 Culms tufted without running rootstocks; leaves narrowly linear, soft anfl 

 smooth; ligules elongated ; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (1 -2" long), ale 

 short-pedicelled in an elongated panicle, often tinged with dull purple ; flowers 

 and glumes narrow ; flowering glume very obscurely nerved. Wet meadows 

 jpnd low banks of streams ; common, especially northward. July, Aug. A 

 good grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



5. P. prat&nsis, L. (JUNE GRASS. SPEAR GRASS. KENTUCKY BLUE 

 GRASS.) Culms sending off copious running rootstocks from the base, and the 

 sheaths smooth ; ligule short and blunt ; panicle short-pyramidal ; spikelets 3-5- 

 flowered, crowded, and mostly almost sessile on the branches, ovate-lanceolate or 

 ovate ; flowering glume 5-nerved, hairy on the margins as well as keel. Common 

 in dry soil ; imported for pastures and meadows. Indigenous in mountain re- 

 gions from N. Penn. to New Eng., and northward. May - July. (Eu.) 



P. TRIVIALIS, L. (ROUGHISH MEADOW-GRASS.) Culms erect from a some 

 what decumbent base, but no distinct running rootstocks ; sheaths and leavef 

 more or less rough ; ligule oblong, acute ; panicle longer or with the branches 

 more distant ; spikelets mostly 3-flowered, broader upward ; flowering glume 

 prominently 5-nerved, naked at the margins ; otherwise nearly as in the preced- 

 ing. Moist meadows, etc. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



H- H- Spikelets fewer and more scattered, on slender pedicels; plants soft and 

 smooth, flowering early. (No running rootstocks, except in n. 10.) 



w- Spikelets small (1 -2" long), pale green, rather loosely 2 - 4-flowered ; flowers 

 oblong, obtuse ; flowering glume scarcely scarious-tipped ; culm-leaves lance- 

 linear, acute, 1 - 3' long. 



6. P. sylvestris, Gray. Cu^ flattish, erect ; branches of the oblong- 

 pyramidal panicle short, numerous, in fives or more ; flowering glumes villous 

 on the keel its whole 'length, and on the margins below the middle, sparingly 

 webbed at base. Rocky woods and meadows, western N. Y. to Wise., Kan., 

 and southward. June. 



7. P. d^bilis, Torr. Culms terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 few and slender (the lower l--2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes ; 

 flowers very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at base. Rocky 

 woodlands, R. I. to Penn. and Wise. May. 



M. -M- Spikelets 2" long, light green ; oblong -lanceolate flowers and glumes acute. 



8. P. alsodes, Gray. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the upper- 

 most (2|-4 / long) often sheathing the base of the narrow and loose panicle, 

 the capillary branches appressed when young, mostly in threes or fours ; flow- 

 ering glume very obscurely nerved, villous on the keel below, and with a narrow 

 cobwebby tuft at base, otherwise glabrous. Woods, on hillsides, N. Eng. to 

 Penn. and Va., west to Wise. May, June. 



M. -M. -w- Spikelets larger (3-4" long), pale green, rarely purple-tinged, few and 

 scattered at the ends of the long capillary branches (mostly in pairs or 

 threes) of the very diffuse panicle ; flowers 3-6, loose, oblong and obtuse, as 



