GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 41 



one-seeded, the glumes exceedingly narrow and tipped with long 

 bristles, the lemma with an acute callus; awn four to eight 

 inches long, rough-hairy and twisted in the lower part, extremely 

 slender, flexible, and thread-like ; not harmful when caught in the 

 coats of animals but very objectionable in hay. 



Means of control the same as for the preceding species, 



POVERTY-GRASS 



Arlstida dichotoma, Michx. 



Other English name: Three-awned 

 Wire-grass. . 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : August to October. 



Seed-time: September to November. 



Range: Maine to Ontario, southward 

 to Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and 

 Florida. 



Habitat: Dry upland meadows, pas- 

 tures, and waste places. 



Sterile, sandy, or gravelly soils seem 

 to be preferred by this wiry grass. 

 Stems tufted, six inches to two feet 

 tall, erect, very slender, and usually 

 forking at every joint. Sheaths short, 

 loose, and smooth, with hairy ligules ; 

 the blades are one to three inches long, 

 scarcely a tenth of an inch wide, with 

 rough surface and edges involute. 

 Panicles very slender, two to five 

 inches long, the lateral ones often en- 

 closed in the sheaths ; spikelets hardly 

 a quarter-inch long, the glumes sharp- 

 pointed, not quite equal ; the lemma 

 hard, convolute, closely enfolding the 

 seed with the palea, and terminated with 

 three awns, of which the lateral ones are 

 short but the central one is about as long FlQ 16 _ p 4rty-grass (Aris- 

 es the lemma and is held horizontally tida dichotoma) . x 

 with a twist at the base. (Fig. 16.) 



