ANDROPOGON. 205 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Culm 2 to 5 feet high, somewhat bearded at the 

 upper joints ; panicle rather open ; silky hairs shorter 

 than the spikelets. 



Low grounds, Virginia and southward. 



65, A1SIDROPOGOX. BEARD GRASS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets in pairs upon each joint of the slender 

 liiachis, spiked or racemed, one of them pedicelled 

 and sterile, often a mere vestige, the other sessile, 

 with the lower flower neutral, and of a single palet, 

 the upper perfect and fertile, of 2 thin and hyaline 

 palets, shorter than the herbaceous or chartaceous 

 glumes, the lower awned from the tip, ; stamens 1 to 

 3 ; grain free. Coarse, mostly rigid perennials, mostly 

 in sterile or sandy soil, with lateral or terminal 

 spikes, commonly clustered or digitate ; the rhachis 

 hairy or plumose-bearded, and often the sterile or 

 staminate flowers also. 



Whence the name, composed olaner, andvos, man, 

 and pogon, beard. 



1. A. Furcatus (Finger Spiked Wood grass). This 

 grass grows about 4 feet high, leaves nearly smooth, 

 spikelets roughish, downy ; the awn bent. Flowers 

 in September. 



Common on sterile soils, rocky banks, and hill- 

 sides. 



