1 84 



GRAMINEAE. 



60. PHRAGMITES Trin. Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. 



Tall perennial reed-like grasses, with broad flat leaves and ample panicles. Spikelets 3- 

 several-flowered, the first flower often staminate, the others perfect; rachilla articulated be- 

 tween the flowering scales, long-pilose. Two lower scales empty, unequal, membranous, 

 lanceolate, acute, shorter than the spikelet; the third scale empty or subtending a staminate 

 flower; flowering scales glabrous, narrow, long-acuminate, much exceeding the short palets. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct, short. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely enclosed in the 

 scale and palet. [Greek, referring to its hedge-like growth along ditches] 



Three known species, the following of the north tem- 

 perate zone, one in Asia, the third in South America. 



i. Phragmites Phragmites (L,. ) Karst. 

 Reed. (Fig. 420.) 



Arundo Phragmites L,. Sp. PI. 81. 1753. 

 Phragmites communis Trm. Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. 

 Phragmiles Phragmites Karst. Deutsch. Fl. 379. 1880-83. 

 Culms 5-i5 tall, erect, stout, from long horizontal 

 rootstocks, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths overlap- 

 ping, loose; ligule a ring of very short hairs; leaves 

 6'-i long or more, */$'-*' wide, flat smooth, gla- 

 brous; panicle 6'-i long or more, ample; spikelets 

 crowded on the ascending branches; first scale i- 

 nerved, half to two-thirds as long as the 3-nerved 

 second one; flowering scales 5"-6" long, 3-nerved, 

 long-acuminate, equalling the hairs of the rachilla. 



In swamps and wet places nearly throughout the United 

 States, extending north to Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Brit- 

 ish Columbia. Also in Europe and Asia. Rarely ripen- 

 ing seed. Aug.-Oct. 



61. SIEGLINGIA Bernh. Syst. Verz. Pfl. Erf. 40. 1800. 



[TRIODIA R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. i: 182. 1810.] 



Perennial grasses with narrow leaves and contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2- 

 many-flowered, the flowers perfect or the upper staminate. Scales 5-many, rigid, 1-3- 

 nerved; the 2 lower empty, snorter than the spikelet, keeled; flowering scales rounded on 

 the back, at least at the base, the apex lobed or toothed, 3-nerved, the nerves pilose, and 

 usually excurrent as short points between the lobes or teeth; palet broad, 2-keeled. Stamens 

 3. Styles short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, enclosed in the scale and palet. 

 [Name in honor of Professor Siegling, German botanist.] . 



About 30 species, widely distributed in temperate regions; a few in tropical America. Besides 

 the following, some 20 others occur in the southern and western parts of North America. 

 Internodes of the rachilla less than one-quarter the length of the flowering scales. 



Panicle open, the branches 4'-io' long. i. 5. seslerioides. 



Panicle spike-like, the branches 3' long or less. 



Panicle 5'-i2 r long; spikelets numerous. 2. 5. stricta. 



Panicle i'-z' long; spikelets few. 3. 5. decumbens. 



Internodes of the rachilla one-half the length of the flowering scales. 4. 5". purfiurea. 



i. Sieglingia seslerioides (Michx.) Scribn. Tall Red-top. (Fig. 421.) 



Poa seslerioides Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 68. 1803. 

 Triodia cuprea J. F. Jacq. Eclog. Gram. 2: 21. pi. 16. 1814. 

 Sieglingia seslerioides Scribn. Mem. Torr. Bot. Club, 5: 



48. 1894. 



Culms 2-5 tall, erect, somewhat flattened, simple, 

 glabrous, often viscid above. Sheaths sometimes vil- 

 lous at the summit, the lower short, overlapping and 

 crowded, the upper longer, equalling or shorter than 

 the internodes; ligule a ring of very short hairs; leaves 

 4'-! long or more, $"-&" wide, flat, attenuate into a 

 long tip, smooth beneath, scabrous above; panicle 6'- 

 18' long, the branches finally ascending or spreading, 

 the lower 4 / -io / long, usually dividing above the mid- 

 dle; spikelets 4-8-flowered, 3"-4" long, purple; joints 

 of the rachilla short; empty scales glabrous, obtuse, 

 generally slightly 2-toothed; flowering scales oval, the 

 nerves pilose, excurrent as short points. 



In fields. New York to Kansas, south to Florida and 

 Texas. July-Sept. 



