560 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



lower palea entire; leaves large (l-2 long, J' to \* wide). Wet meadows 

 &c. ; common northward. July. Culm stout, upright, 3 - 5 high. (Eu.) 



# * * Spikelets linear ('-!' long), terete, pale, oppressed on the branches of the 

 long and narrow racemose panicle : palece, minutely roughish ; the upper ^-toothed : 

 stamens 3: squamuke unilateral or united: ligule long: culm flattened, ascending 

 from a rooting base. (Glyceria, R. Brown.) 



7. G. flUitans, K. Brown. Spikelets 7-13-flowered; lower palea oblong, 

 obtuse, or the scarious tip acutish, entire or obscurely 3-lobed, usually rather 

 longer than the blunt upper one. (G. plicata, Fries.) Shallow water; com- 

 mon, especially northward. June - Aug. Culm thickish, 1 - 5 long. Leaves 

 short and rather broad, very smooth. Panicle 1 long : the simple branches 

 appressed, finally spreading below. (Eu.) 



8. G. acutiflora, Torr. Spikelets 5-12-flowered, few and scattered; 

 lower palea oblong-lanceolate, acute, shorter than the long tapering point of the upper 

 one. Wet places, Penn. to New England; rather rare. June. Resembles 

 the last; but the erect leaves smaller, the separate flowers twice the length (J' 

 long) and less nerved. 



$ 2. HELE6CHLOA, Fries. (Sclerochloa, ed. 1.) Lower palea inconspicuously 

 or obsoletely 5-nerved : stigmas nearly sessile and simply plumose : grain hardly 

 grooved : saline species : panicle contracted with age. 



9. G. Iliaritima, Wahl. (SEA SPEAR-GRASS.) Sterile shoots procum- 

 bent runner-like; flowering culms erect (l-lj high); branches of the panicle 

 solitary or in pairs ; spikelets oblong or linear, 4 - 8-flowered ; lower palea round- 

 ed at the summit, slightly pubescent towards the base ; leaves somewhat invo- 

 lute; ligule elongated. (Poa maritima, Huds.) Sea-coast; not rare. (Eu.) 



10. G. distailS, Wahl. Culms geniculate at the base, ascending, des- 

 titute of running shoots ; branches of the panicle 3-5 in a half whorl, spreading ; 

 spikelets 3 - 6-flowered ; lower palea truncate-obtuse ; leaves mostly flat ; ligule 

 short. (P. fasciculata, Torr. P. distans, L. P. arenaria, Retz.) Salt marsh- 

 es along the coast. Probably only a form of the last. (Eu.) 



32. BRIZOPYRTJM, Link. SPIKE-GRASS. 



Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or 

 capitate panicle. Glumes herbaceous or membranaceous ; the lower faintly 

 many-nerved. Lower palea rather coriaceous, flattened-boat-shaped, indistinctly 

 many-nerved, acute. Ovary stalked. Flowers mostly dioecious, pretty large. 

 Leaves crowded on the culms, involute, commonly rigid. (Name compounded 

 of Briza (No. 35), and irvpos, wheat.) 



1. B. spicatnin, Hook. Culms tufted, from creeping rootstocks (9 ; - 

 18' high); spike oblong, flattened (!' long); spikelets ovate or oblong, 5-10- 

 flowered; flowers smooth and naked ; grain pointed. (Uniola spicata, L. Poa 

 Michauxii, Kunth.) Salt marshes and shores. Aug. Pistillate flowers more 

 rigid and almost keeled, with very long plumose stigmas; the sterile sir allot 

 and somewhat rounded on the back. 



