(GRASS FAMILY.) 571 



3. E. StriatUS, Willd. Spike dense, but slender, upright or slightly nod- 

 ding (3' -4' long) ; spikelets mostly in pairs, 1-2- (or rarely 3-) flowered, mi- 

 nutely bristly-hairy; glumes linear-awl-shaped or truly awl-shaped, bristle-awned, 

 about thrice the length of the flowers, not counting their capillary awn (which is 1' 

 long); leaves (rather narrow) and sheaths smooth or hairy, or downy. Var. 

 viLL6sus (E. villosus, Muhl. !) has a somewhat stouter spike and very hairy 

 glumes. Rocky woods and banks; rather rare. July. The most slender 

 and smallest-flowered species. 



* * Glumes and palece both awnless and soft in texture : reed-like perennials. 



4. E. IllolliS, Trin. (not of E. Br.) Stout (3 high) ; spike thick, erect 

 (8 long); spikelets 2 or 3 at each joint, 5-8-flowered; the lanceolate pointed 

 5- 7-nerved glumes (!' long) with the pointed paleae soft-villous, the apex of the 

 culm velvety ; rhachis of the spikelets separating into joints. Shore of Lakes 

 Huron, Superior, and northward. (Near E. arenarius.) 



46. OYMNOSTICHUM, Schreb. BOTTLE-BBUSH GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-3 (or sometimes solitary) on each joint of the rhachis, raised on 

 a very short callous pedicel, loosely 2-4-flowered (when solitary placed flatwise 

 on the rhachis). Glumes none ! or small awn-like deciduous rudiments (whence 

 the name of this genus [otherwise nearly as in Elymus], from yvpvos, naked, and 

 OTi^oSj a rank). 



1. G. Ilystrix, Schreb. Spike upright, loose (3' -6' long); the spread- 

 ing spikelets 2-3 together, early deciduous ; flowers smoothish, or often rough- 

 hairy, tipped with an awn thrice their length (!' long); leaves and sheaths 

 smoothish. 1J. (Elymus Hystrix, L.) Moist woodlands; rather common 

 July. 



47. A 111 A, L. (in part). HAIB-GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, in an open diffuse panicle; the (small) flowers both per- 

 fect (sometimes with a third imperfect), usually shorter than the membranaceous 

 keeled glumes, hairy at the base ; the upper remotish. Lower palea truncate 

 and mostly denticulate or eroded at the summit, bearing a slender bent or straight 

 awn on its back. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base. Ovary glabrous. 

 Grain oblong. (An ancient Greek name for Darnel.) 



1. DESCHAMPSIA, Beauv., Trin. Lower palea thin and scarious or mem- 

 branaceous, delicately 3 - 5-nerved, eroded or toothed at the truncate summit ; the 

 awn attached mostly a little above the base : grain not grooved, mostly free : glumes 

 about equalling the flowers. 



1. A. flexuosa, L. (COMMON HAIR-GRASS.) Culms slender, nearly 

 naked (l-2high), from the small tufts of involute-bristle-form haves (l'-6' 

 long) ; branches of the small spreading panicle capillary ; awn about twice the 

 length of the palea. 1J. Dry places; common. June. (Eu.) 



2. A. ceespitosa, L. Culms in close tufts (2 -4 high); leaves flat, 

 linear; panicle pyramidal or oblong (6' long) ; awn barely equalling the palea. 

 jj. Shores of lakes and streams ; not rare northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



