GRAMINEJB. (GRASS FAMILY.) 543 



5. S. sei'otimis. Smooth; culms very slender, flattish (8'-15' high), 

 few-Leaved; leaves very slender, channelled; panicle soon much exserted, the dif- 

 fuse capillary branches scattered ; glumes ovate, obtuse, about half the length 

 of the palcae. (I) ? ( Agr. & Vilfa scrotina, Torr. V. tcnera, Trin. Poa ? uni- 

 flora, Muhl. P. modesta, Tuckerm.) Sandy wet places, E. New England to 

 New Jersey and Michigan. Sept. A very delicate grass ; the spikelets, &c. 

 smaller than in the last. 



7. AGR6STIS, L. BENT-GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in an open panicle. Glumes somewhat equal, or the 

 lower rather longer, usually longer than the palea}, pointless. Palea? very thin, 

 pointless, naked ; the lower 3 - 5-nerved, and frequently awned on the back, the 

 upper often minute or wanting. Stamens chiefly 3. Grain (caryopsis) free. 

 Culms usually tufted, slender. (Name from dypos , a field, the place of 

 growth.) 



1. TKICHODIUM, Michx. Upper palea abortive, minute, or none. 



1. A. elata, Trin. (TALLER THIN-GRASS.) Culms firm or stout (2 -3 

 high) ; leaves flat (l"-2" wide) ; upper ligules elongated (2"-3" long) ; spike- 

 lets crowded on the branches of the spreading panicle above the middle (1^" long) ; 

 lower palea awnless, slightly shorter than the rather unequal glumes ; the upper 

 wanting. 1J. (A. Schweinitzii, Trin. ? A. altissima, Tuckerm., excl. var. laxa. 

 Trich. elatum, Pursh.) Swamps, New Jersey and southward. October. 



2. A. pereimans, Tuckerm. (THIN-GRASS.) Culms slender, erect from 

 a decumbent base (l-2 high); leaves flat (the upper 4' -6' long, l"-2" 

 wide) ; panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green, the hunches short, dimded 

 and flower-bearing from or below the middle ; lower palea awnless (rarely short- 

 awned), shorter than the unequal glumes ; the upper minute or obsolete. 1|. 

 (Cornucopia? pereiinans, Walt. Trich. perennans, Ell. T. decumbens, Michx. 

 T. scabrum, Muhl., not Agr. scabra, Willd. Agr. anomala, Willd.) Damp 

 shaded places. July, Aug. Spikelets, &c. as in No. 3, into which it appears 

 to vary. 



3. A. SCabra, Willd. (HAIR-GRASS.) Culms very slender, erect (l-2 

 high) ; leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper 1' -3' long, 

 less than 1" wide) ; panicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary 

 branches flower-bearing at and near the apex ; lower palea awnless or occasionally 

 short-awned on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute glumes ; the 

 upper minute or obsolete. TJ. (2) *? (A. laxiflora, Richard. A. Michauxii, Trin. 

 partly. Trich. laxiflorum, Michx. T. montanum, Torr.) Exsiccated places, 

 common. June, July. Remarkable for the long and divergent capillary 

 branches of the extremely loose panicle ; these are whorled, rough with very 

 minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 1' 

 long. A variety? from about the White Mountains, &c. (var. montana, 

 Tuckerm.), has a more or less exserted awn, thus differing from the T. monta- 

 num, Torr. (A. oreophila, Trin.), which is a dwarfed form, growing in tufts in 

 hollows of rocks, &c. 



