180 LEPTURIJS. 



lower convex on the back, many-nerved, tapering 

 into a mucronate point or bristle ; squamulse 3, longer 

 than the ovary ; stamens 3 ; grain oblong, free. Ar- 

 borescent or shrubbery grasses, simple or with fas- 

 cicled branches, and with large spikelets in panicles 

 or racemes, the flowers polygamous. 

 Name from arundo, a reed. 



1. Arundinaria Macrospirma (Large Cane). River 

 banks, S. Virginia, Kentucky, and southward, for- 

 ming cane-brakes ; the stems are extensively used 

 for fishing rods. 



2. A. Tecta (Small Cane). Swamps and moist 

 soil, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



42. LEPTURUS R. Br. LEPTURUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER, 



Spikelets solitary on each joint of the filiform rha- 

 chis, and partly immersed in the excavation, 1 to 2- 

 flowered ; glumes 1 to 2, including the 2 thin point- 

 less palets ; stamens 3 ; grain free, oblong-linear, 

 cylindrical. Low and branching, often procumbent 

 grasses, chiefly annuals, with narrow leaves and 

 slender spikes. 



Whence the name, from leptos, slender, and oyra, 

 a tail. 



1. L. Paniculatus (Slender Tail grass). Open 

 grounds and salt licks, Illinois and westward. Rare. 



