540 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



* Spikdets narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. L.. oryzoides, Swartz. (RiCE CUT-GRASS.) Panicle diffusely branded, 

 often sheathed at the base; spikelets flat, rather spreading in flower (2" -3' 

 long); stamens 3 ; palejB strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish).-- Wet places; com 

 mon. (Eu.) 



2. L.. Virgiiiica, Willd. (WHITE GRASS.) Panicle simple; the spike- 

 lets closely oppressed on the slender branches around which they are partly curved 

 (l" long) ; stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting); palese sparingly ciliate 

 (greenish-white). Wet woods. Aug., Sept. 



* * Spikdets broadly oval, imbricately covering each other (2^"-3" long}. 



3. L,. lenticularis, TMichx. (FLY-CATCH GRASS.) Smoothish ; pani- 

 cle simple ; paleas very flat, strongly bristly ciliate (said to close and catch flies) ; 

 stamens 2. Low grounds, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



OEYZA SAT!VA, the RICE-PLANT, is allied to this genus. 



2. ZIZANIA, Gronov. WATER or INDIAN RICE. 



Flowers monoecious ; the staminate and pistillate both in 1 -flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary, and forming a little 

 cup. Paleaj herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile spikelets, 

 the lower tipped with a straight awn in the fertile ones. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. Large and often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with 

 the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Ziai>ioi>, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aqiisilica, L. (INDIAN RICE. WATER OATS.) Lower branches 

 of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the upper erect, pistillate ; 

 pedicels strongly club-shaped; lower palece long-awned, rough; styles distinct; 

 grain linear, slender. (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) Swampy borders of streams 

 and in shallow water ; common, especially northwestward. Aug. Culms 3- 

 9 high. Leaves flat, 2 -3 long, linear-lanceolate. Grain ' long ; gathered 

 for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. tnili'iicca, Michx. Panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers intermixed; awns short; styles united ; grain ovate, ty Penn. ? 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. Leaves involute. 



3. ALiOPECtlRUS, L. FOXTAIL GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palea, which 

 is awned on the back below the middle : upper palea wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. Panicle contracted into a 

 cylindrical and soft dense spike. (Name from dXo>7n?, fox, and oupa, tail, the 

 popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. PRATENSIS, L. (MEADOW FOXTAIL.) Culm upright, smooth (2 

 high) ; palea equalling the acute glumes ; awn exserted more than half its length, 

 twisted; upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath, ty Meadows and 

 pastures of E. New England and New York. May. (Sat. from Eu.) 



