544 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



4. A, CAN!NA, L. (BROWN BENT-GRASS.) Culms slender (1- 2 high); 

 root-leaves involute-bristle-form, those of the culm flat and broader, linear ; 

 branches of the short and loose erect-spreading panicle slender, branching above 

 the middle ; lower palea a little shorter than the almost equal glumes, bearing a 

 long (at length bent or somewhat twisted) awn on the back a little below the middle, 

 the upper one minute and inconspicuous (only half the length of the ovary) ; 

 spikelets greenish, turning brown or purplish, about 1" long. \ Meadows, 

 &c., E. New England : scarce. (Nat. from Eu.) 



Var. alpina, Oakes (var. ? tenella, Ton. ; A. rubra, L., ed.l.; A. Picker- 

 ingii A. concinna, Tuckerm.), is a lower, often contracted mountain form, with 

 spikelets 1 J" long. Mountain-tops, Maine to New York. July, Aug. (Eu.) 



2. AGROSTIS PROPER. Upper palea manifest, but shorter than the lower. 



5. A. vulgaris, With. (RED-TOP. HERD'S-GRASS of Penn., &c.) 

 Rootstocks creeping; culm mostly upright (l-2high); panicle oblong, with 

 spreading slightly rough short branches (purple] ; leaves linear ; ligule very short, 

 truncate ; lower palea nearly equalling the glumes, chiefly awnless, 3-nervod ; 

 the upper about one half its length. 1J. (A. polymorpha, Huds. partly. Varies 

 with a rougher panicle (A. hispida, Willd.), and rarely with the flower awned 

 (A. pumila, L.) Low meadows ; naturalized from Eu. Also native in North- 

 ern New York and northward. (Eu.) 



6. A. ALBA, L. (WHITE BENT-GRASS.) Culm ascending, rooting at the 

 lower joints (l-2 high) ; panicle narrow, contracted after flowering (greenish- 

 white or barely tinged with purple), the branches rough ; ligule oblong or linear ; 

 lower palea rather shorter than the glumes, 5-nerved, awnless, or rarely short- 

 awned on the back ; otherwise as in the last. 1|. Varies with the panicle 

 more contracted (A. stolonifera, L., Fiorin Grass) ; and var. ARISTATA, with 

 the lower palea long-awned from near its base. (A. stricta, Willd.) Moist 

 meadows and fields. A valuable grass, like the foregoing. (Nat. from Eu.) 



8. POL.YPOGON, Desf. BEARD-GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in a contracted somewhat spike-like panicle. Glumes 

 nearly equal, long-awned, much longer than the membranaceous paleas, the lower 

 of which is commonly short-awned below the apex. Stamens 3. Grain free. 

 (Name composed of TroXv, much, and Trwyooi/, beard; from the awns.) 



1. P. MONSPELIENSIS, Desf. Panicle interrupted ; glumes oblong, the awn 

 from a shallow notch at the summit; lower palea awned. (1) On the coast, 

 Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire ( Oakes $- Robbins), Virginia ? and southward. 

 (Nat, from Eu.) 



9. CINNA, L. WOOD REED-GRASS. 



SpiRelets 1 -flowered, much flattened, crowded in an open flaccid panicle. 

 Glumes lanceolate, acute, strongly keeled, hispid-serrulate on the keel ; the lower 

 rather smaller, the upper a little exceeding the paleas. Flower manifestly 

 stalked in the glumes, smooth and naked ; the palese much like the glumes ; 

 the lower longer than the upper, short-awned or bristle-pointed on the back be- 



