186 



GRAMINEAE. 



62. REDFIELDIA Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club, 14: 133. 



A tall perennial grass, with long narrow leaves and an ample panicle. Spikelets 1-3- 

 flowered, the flowers all perfect. Empty scales 2, about equal, shorter than the spikelet, 

 i-nerved'; flowering scales membranous, 3-nerved, with a ring of hairs at the base. Palet 2- 

 nerved, shorter than the scale. Stamens 3. Styles long, distinct. Stigmas short, plumose. 

 Grain oblong, free. [In honor of John H. Redfield, 1815-1895, American naturalist. 



A monotypic genus of the western United States. 



i. Redfieldia flexuosa (Thurb.) Vasey. 

 Redfieldia. (Fig. 425.) 



Graphephorum (?) jiexuosum Thurb. Proc. Acad- 



Phila. 1863: 78. 1863. 

 Redfieldia flexuosa Vasev, Bull. Torr. Club, 14: 



133. 1887. 



Culms i^-4 tall, erect from a long horizon- 

 tal rootstock, simple, smooth and glabrous. 

 Sheaths smooth, the lower short and overlap- 

 ping, often crowded, the upper much longer; 

 ligule a ring of short hairs; leaves i-2 long, 

 i // -2 // wide, involute; panicle ample and diffuse, 

 8 / -22 / in length, the branches finally widely 

 spreading, flexuous, the lower 3 / -8 / long; spike- 

 lets about 3 X/ long, i-3-flowered, the empty 

 scales acute, glabrous; flowering scales with a 

 ring of hairs at the base, minutely scabrous, 

 twice the length of the empty ones, acute, the 

 middle nerve usually excurrent as a short point. 



On prairies, Nebraska and Wyoming to Colorado 

 and the Indian Territory. Aug. -Sept. 



63. DIPLACHNE Beauv. Agrost. 80. pL 16. f. 9. 1812. 

 Tufted grasses, with narrow flat leaves and long slender spikes arranged in an open pan- 

 icle, or rarely only one terminal spike. Spikelets several-flowered, narrow, sessile or 

 shortly pedicelled, erect. Two lower scales empty, membranous, keeled, acute, unequal; 

 flowering scales i-3-nerved, 2-toothed and mucronate or short-awned between the teeth. 

 Palet hyaline, 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely 

 enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, referring to the 2-toothed flowering scales.] 



About 15 species, natives of the warmer regions of both hemispheres. Besides the following 

 species, about 6 others occur in the southern and western parts of North America. 



i. Diplachne fascicularis (Lam.) Beauv. 

 (Fig. 426.) 



Fesluca fascicularis Lam. Tabl. Encycl. i: 189. 



1791. 

 Diplachne fascicularis Beauv. Agrost. 160. 1812. 



Culms i-2^ tall, erect, ascending, orroot- 

 ing at the lower nodes, simple or branched, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths shorter than 

 the internodes, loose, smooth or rough, the 

 upper one longer and enclosing the base of 

 the panicle; ligule \"-i" long; leaves 3 / -i2 / 

 long, i // -3 // wide, slightly scabrous; panicle 

 4 / -i2 / in length, often exceeded by the upper 

 leaf, the branches erect or ascending, the 

 lower 2'-5' long; spikelets s-io-flowcred, 

 3"-5" long, short-pcdicelled, erect; lower 

 scales glabrous, rough on the keel; flow- 

 ering scales scabrous, ciliate on the margins 

 toward the base, 3-nerved. 



In brackish marshes, Rhode Island to Florida 

 and Texas. Also from Missouri and Nebraska 

 to Mexico, and in the West Indies. Aug.-Oct. 



Salt-meadow Diplachne. 



