624 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



1. T. seslerioides, Torr. (TALL RED-TOP.) Perennial ; culm upright 

 (3- 5 high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves ; panicle large and compound, 

 the rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below ; spikelets very numerous, 

 5 - 7-flowered, shining, purple (4" long) ; the flowers hairy toward the base. 

 (Poa flava, L. I P. seslerioides, Michx. P. quinquefida, Pursh. Windsoria, 

 poaefdrmis, Nutt. Uralepis ciiprea, Kunth.) Dry or sandy fields, S. New York 

 to Illinois and southward. Aug. A showy grass, with the spreading panicle 

 sometimes 1 wide. Points of the low'er palet almost equal, scarcely exceeding 

 the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. 



2. TRIPLASIS, Beauv. (Diplbcea,. Raf. Uralepis, Nutt.) Glumes much 

 shorter than the somewhat remote flowers : both palets strongly fringe-bearded ; the 

 lower 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the trun- 

 cate or awn-pointed divisions. 



2. T. purpurea, Gray. (SAND-GRASS.) Culms many in a tuft from the 

 same annual root, ascending (6' -12' high), with numerous bearded joints; 

 leaves invohite-awl-shaped, mostly short; panicles very simple, bearing few 2- 

 5 -flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually exserted, the axillary ones included 

 in the commonly hairy sheaths ; awn much shorter than the palet, seldom exceed- 

 ing its eroded-truncate or obtuse lateral lobes. (Aira purpurea, Walt. Diplocea 

 barbata, Raf. Uralepis purpurea and U. aristulata, Nutt. ) In sand, Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia along the coast, and southward : also Lake Erie, near 

 Buffalo, G. W. Clinton. Aug., Sept. Plant acid to the taste. 



(T. CORNEA (Uralepis cornuta, Ell., and Triplasis Americana, Beauv.!) 

 may perhaps extend north to the borders of Virginia. ) 



26. GRAPHEPHORUM, Desv. <DUPONTIA, R.Br.) (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 5-flowered, rather terete. Glumes membranaceous, mostly nearly 

 equalling the remote flowers. A cluster of villous hairs at the base of each 

 flower. Palets thin and membranaceous or scarious ; the lower one convex, 

 scarcely keeled, faintly nerved, entire, pointless and awnless. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas plumose. Ovary glabrous. Perennial and northern or arctic grasses, 

 with linear flat leaves, their sheaths closed at the base, the spikelets in a loose 

 panicle. ( Genus allied to the Aveneae, but awnless ; named from ypa<f)is, a pen- 

 cil, and <epo>, to bear, from the tufts of hair at the base of the flowers.) 



1. G. melicoides, Bcauv. Culm 1- 2 high; leaves roughish ; panicle 

 open ; glumes unequal, lanceolate, their midrib and the pedicels rough ; joints 

 of the rhachis unilaterally bearded between the 2-4 flowers. Grand Detour, 

 Upper Michigan, Prof. Porter, Shore of Moosehead Lake, Maine, C. E. Smith, 

 and northward : rare. Var. MAJOR, Gray (Dupontia Cooleyi, of former ed.), 

 is a luxuriant form, 2 - 3 high, with ampler panicle ; found on the borders 

 of a swamp, Washington, Macomb County, Michigan, by Dr. Cooley. Aug. 



27. DIARRHENA, Raf. DIARRHENA. (PL 10.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost 

 flowers sterile. Glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous ; the 

 lower one much smaller. Lower palet ovate, convex on the back, rigidly cori- 



