CALAMAGROSTIS. 147 



med panicle ; glumes unequal, persistent, usually 

 minute, or the lower one almost obsolete ; palets 

 chartaceo-herbaceous, involute, enclosing the linear 

 oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough, with scattered, 

 short bristles ; the lower 5-nerved, extended into a 

 long, straight awn ; the upper 2-pointed ; the awn 

 like sterile pedicil, partly lodged in the groove on its 

 back ; stamens 2 ; anthers and stigmas very long. 

 Perennial, with simple culms, 1 to 3 feet high, from 

 creeping rootstocks, downy sheaths, broad and flat 

 lanceolate- pointed leaves, and spikelets one-half inch 

 long, without the awn. 



Name from two Greek words, short and husk, 

 from the minute glumes. 



1. B. Aristatum (The Erect Muhlenbergia or Awned 

 Brachyelytrum). Found in rocky woods on the 

 sides of Wachuset mountain, and other similar situ- 

 ations. Flowers in June andJuly. 



13. CALAMAGROSTIS Adans. REED BENT 



GRASS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, and often with a pedicil or 

 rudiments of a second abortive flower (rarely 2-flow- 

 ered), in an open or spiked panicle ; glumes keeled 

 or boat-shaped, often acute ; commonly nearly equal, 

 and exceeding the flower, which bears at the base 

 copious, white, bristly hairs ; palets thin, the lower 

 bearing a slender awn on the back or below the tip, 

 or sometimes awnless, the upper mostly shorter ; 

 .stamens 3 ; grain free. Perennials, with running 



