GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 613 



eels spreading in flower, afterwards erect. Spikelets 2"-3" long. Awn of 

 the palet either obsolete or manifest. 



Var. pendula, Gray. Panicle loose and more slender, the branches nearly 

 capillary and drooping in flower ; pedicels very rough ; glumes and palets thin- 

 ner, the former less unequal ; spikelets l"- 2" long ; upper palet obtuse. (C. 

 pendula, Trin. C. latifolia, Griseb. C. expansa, Link. Blyttia suaveolens, 

 Fries.) Deep damp woods, N. New England to Lake Superior and northward, 

 and on mountains southward. A slender variety of the last, as is shown by 

 intermediate specimens, always monandrous. (Eu.) 



11. MUHLENBERGIA, Schreber. DROP-SEED G. (PI. 8.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in contracted or rarely in open panicles. Glumes mostly 

 acute or bristle-pointed, persistent ; the lower rather smaller or minute. Flower 

 very short-stalked or sessile in the glumes ; the palets usually minutely bearded 

 at the base, herbaceous, deciduous with the enclosed grain, often equal ; the 

 lower 3-nerved, mucronate or awned at the apex. Stamens 3. (Dedicated to 

 the Rev. Dr. Henry Muhlenberg, a distinguished American botanist of the early 

 part of this century.) 



1. MUHLENBERGIA proper. Panicles contracted or glomerate, terminal 

 and axillary : perennials (in our species) with branching rigid 'culms, from scaly 

 creeping rootstocks : leaves short and narrow. 

 # Lower palet barely mucronate or sharp-pointed. (Sp. of Cinna, Kunth, Trin.) 



1 . M. SObolifera, Trin. Culms ascending ( 1 - 2 high), rarely branching ; 

 the simple contracted panicle very slender or filiform ; glumes barely pointed, almost 

 equal, one third shorter than the equal palets ; lower palet abruptly short-mucronate. 

 (Agrostis sobolifera, Muhl.) Open rocky woods, Mass, to Michigan, Illinois, 

 and southward. Aug. Spikelets less than 1" long. 



2. M. glomerata, Trin. Culms upright (1- 3 high), sparingly branched 

 or simple ; panicle oblonq -linear, contracted into an interrupted glomerate spike, long- 

 peduncled, the branches sessile ; glumes awned, nearly equal, and (with the 

 bristle-like awn) about twice the length of the unequal very acute palets. (Agr. 

 racemosa, Michx. A. setosa, Muhl. Polypbgon racemosus, Nutt.) Bogs: 

 common, especially northward. Aug. Panicle 2' -3' long. 



3. M. Mexicana, Trin. Culms ascending, much branched (2 - 3 high) ; 

 panicles lateral and terminal, often included at the base, contracted, the branches 

 densely spiked-clustered, linear (green and purplish) ; glumes awnless, sharp-pointed, 

 unequal, the upper about the length of the very acute lower palet. (Agr. 

 Mexicana, L. A. lateriflora, Michx.) Varies with more slender panicles (A. 

 filitormis, Muhl.) Low grounds : common. Aug. 



* * Lower palet bristle-awned from the tip : Jlowers short-pedicelled. 



4. M. sylvatica, Torr. & Gr. Culms ascending, much branched and 

 diffusely spreading (2 -4 long); contracted panicles densely many-flowered-, 

 glumes almost equal, bristle-pointed, nearly as long as the lower palet, which bears an 

 awn twice or thrice the length of the spikelet. (Agr. diffusa, Muhl.) Low or 

 rocky woods : common. Aug., Sept. In aspect between No. 3 and No. 5. 



