40 POACEAE. 



ascending, the larger ones 4-8 cm. long; spikelets 4-8 mm. long; scales 10-12, 

 the flowering scales, exclusive of the awn, 3-4 mm. long, the midnerve extend- 

 ing into an awn 1 mm. long or less. 



Swamps, Andros, New Providence, Great Exuma, Cat Island, Long Cay, and 

 Inagua : Florida to Texas, and northward in the Mississippi valley to Illinois ; 

 Cuba ; St. Croix ; Jamaica ; Mexico. SPIKE-GRASS. 



32. ERAGROSTIS Host, Ic. Gram. Austr. 4: 14, pi. 24. 1809. 



Annual or perennial grasses, rarely dioecious, from a few inches to several 

 feet in height, the spikelets in contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2-many- 

 flowered, more or less flattened. Two lower scales empty, unequal, shorter 

 than the flowering ones, keeled, 1-nerved, or the second 3-nerved; flowering 

 scales membranous, keeled, 3-nerved; palets shorter than the scales, prominently 

 2-nerved or 2-keeled, usually persisting on the rachilla after the fruiting scale 

 has fallen. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles distinct, short. Stigmas plumose. Grain 

 free, loosely enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, etymology doubtful, per- 

 haps signifying a low grass, or Love-grass, an occasional English name.] A 

 genus of about 100 species, widely distributed throughout all warm and tem- 

 perate countries. Type species : Briza Eragrostis L. 



Palets glabrous on the keels, or merely hispidulous. 



Annual ; roots fibrous ; spikelets not over 1.5 mm. wide. 1. E. tephrosanthos. 



Perennials. 



Pedicels several times longer than the spikelets. 2. E. Elliottii. 



Pedicels shorter than the spikelets. 



Stems low, 3 dm. tall or less ; inflorescence race- 

 mose or nearly so. 3. E. bahamensis. 

 Stems tall, usually over 1 m. ; inflorescence pro- 

 fusely paniculate. 4. E. prolifera. 

 Palets with keels conspicuously ciliate ; annuals. 



Panicle contracted, spike-like, the branches short and ap- 

 pressed ; palets with very long hairs ; spikelets 3-4 mm. 

 long. 5. E. ciliaris. 



Panicle open, its branches spreading ; palets with shorter 



hairs ; spikelets about 2 mm. long. 6. E. amabilis. 



1. Eragrostis tephrosanthos Schult. Mant. 2: 316. 1824. 



Annual ; culms tufted, slender, erect or ascending, 1-3 dm. high, glabrous. 

 Leaves 4-8 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. wide, glabrous or nearly so, the sheath ciliate 

 at the top; panicle open, 4-8 cm. long, its filiform branches spreading or 

 ascending; spikelets filiform-peduncled, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-7 mm. 

 long, about 2 mm. wide; scales and palets glabrous. 



Waste places and cultivated grounds, New Providence : Cuba to St. Thomas 

 and Trinidad ; Jamaica ; continental tropical America. ANNUAL LOVE-GRASS. 



2. Eragrostis Elliottii S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 25 : 140. 1890. 



Poa nitida Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 162. 1817. Not Lam. 1791. 

 Eragrostis macropoda Pilger, in Urb. Symb. Ant. 4: 106. 1903. 



Perennial; culms tufted, glabrous, rather slender, erect, 4-10 dm. high. 

 Sheaths glabrous; leaf -blades 1-4 dm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, scabrous above, 

 smooth beneath ; panicle 2-5 dm. long, open, its nearly filiform branches spread- 

 ing or ascending; pedicels filiform, much longer than the spikelets; spikelets 

 6-13-flowered, 5-10 mm. long, the flowering scales about 2 mm. long. 



Moist places in pine and palmetto-lands and open scrub-lands, Great Bahama, 

 Abaco, Andros, New Providence, Eleuthera, Little San Salvador : South Carolina 

 to Florida and Louisiana : Cuba ; Porto Rico ; St. Thomas ; Jamaica. Referred by 

 Dolley to E. pectinacea Gray. ELLIOTT'S LOVE-GRASS. 



