610 GRAMINEvE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



4. "V. Virginica, Beauv. Hoot perennial; culms tufted, slender (5' -12' 

 long), often procumbent, branched; leaves convolute, rigid ; palets rather shorter 

 than the nearly equal acute glumes. (Agrostis Virginica, .) Sandy sea- 

 shore, Virginia (Clayton) and southward. Spikelets much smaller and more 

 numerous than in the others. 



7. SPOROBOLTJS, R. Br. DROP-SEED GRASS. (PL 7.) 



Spikelets 1- (rarely 2-) flowered, in a contracted or open panicle. Flowers 

 nearly as in Vilfa ; the palets longer than the unequal glumes. Stamens 2-3. 

 Grain a globular utricle (hyaline or rarely coriaceous), containing a loose seed, 

 deciduous (whence the name, from OTropa, seed, and /3oXXo>, to cast forth). 



* Glumes very unequal : panicle pyramidal, open : ours perennials, except No. 3. 



1. S. jtinceus, Kunth. Leaves involute, narrow, rigid, the lowest elon- 

 gated ; culm (l-2 high) naked above, bearing a narrow loose panicle; glumes 

 ovate, rather obtuse, the lower one half as long as, the upper equalling, the nearly 

 equal palets. (Agrostis juncea, Michx. Vilfa juncea, Trin.) Dry soil, Penn- 

 sylvania to Wisconsin, and (chiefly) southward. Aug. Spikelets l"-2" long, 

 shining. 



2. S. heter61epis, Gray. Leaves involute-thread-form, rigid, the lowest as 

 long as the culm ( 1 - 2) which is naked above ; panicle very loose ; glumes very 

 unequal; the lower awl-shaped (or bristle-pointed from a broad base) and some- 

 what shorter, the upper ovate-oblong and taper-pointed and longei; than the equal 

 palets. (Vilfa heterolepis, Gray.) Dry soil, Connecticut, and New York to 

 Illinois and Wisconsin. Aug. Plant exhaling an unpleasant scent (Sullivant), 

 stouter than the last, the spikelets thrice larger. Utricle spherical (1" in diam- 

 eter), shining, thick and coriaceous ! 



3. C. cryptandrus, Gray. Leaves flat, pale (2" wide) ; the pyramidal 

 panicle bursting from the upper sheath which usually encloses its base, its spreading 

 branches hairy in the axils ; upper glume lanceolate, rather acute, twice the length of 

 the lower one, as long as the nearly equal palets ; sheaths strongly bearded at the 

 throat; root annual ? (Agr. & Vilfa cryptandra, Torr.) Sandy shores, coast 

 of New England, and of the Great Lakes. Aug., Sept. Culm 2 -3 high. 

 Panicle lead-color : spikelets 1" long. 



# # Glumes almost equal, shorter than the broad palets : panicle racemose-elongated, 

 open, the pedicels capillary : sheaths naked at the throat : spikelets not unfrequently 

 two-flowered: root perennial. (CoLPODiUM?) 



4. S. COmpr6ssus, Kunth. Very smooth, leafy to the top : culms tufted, 

 stout, very flat: sheaths flattened, much longer than the internodes; leaves erect, 

 narrow, conduplicate-channelled ; glumes acutish, about one third shorter than 

 the obtuse palets. (Agrostis compressa, Torr. Vilfa, Trin.) Bogs in the 

 pine-barrens of New Jersey. Sept. Forming strong tussocks, l-2 high. 

 Panicle 8' -12' long: spikelets 1" long, purplish. 



5. S. Ser6tinus, Gray. Smooth; culms very slender, flatfish (8'- 15' high), 

 few-leaved; leaves very slender, channelled ; panicle soon much exserted, the diffuse 

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



