540 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



* Spikdets narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. I,, oryzoides, Swartz. (RiCE CUT-GRASS.) Panicle diffusely branchtd, 

 often sheathed at the base; spikelets flat, rather spreading in flower (2"-3' 

 long); stamens 3; palese strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish). Wet places; com- 

 mon. (Eu.) 



2. L,. Virginica, Willd. (WHITE GRASS.) Panicle simple; the spike- 

 lets closely oppressed on the slender branches around which they are partly curved 

 (l" long) ; stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting) ; palcaj sparingly ciiiate 

 (greenish- white). Wet woods. Aug., Sept. 



* # Spikdets broadly oval, imbricatdy covering each other (2" -3" long). 



3. L.. leiiticularis, Michx. (FLY-CATCH GRASS.) Smoothish ; pani- 

 cle simple ; paleae very flat, strongly bristly ciiiate (said to close and catch flies) ; 

 stamens 2. Low grounds, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



OBYZA SAT!VA, the RICE-PLANT, is allied to this genus. 



2. ZIZAiMA, Gronov. WATER or INDIAN RICE. 



Flowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate both in 1 -flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary, and forming a little 

 cnp. Paleaj herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile spikelets, 

 the lower tipped with a straight awn in the fertile ones. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. Large and often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with 

 the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Zidviov, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aqiiatica, L. (INDIAN RICE. WATER OATS.) Lower branches 

 of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the upper erect, pistillate ; 

 pedicels strongly club-shaped ; lower paleie long-awned, rough ; styles distinct ; 

 grain linear, slender. (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) Swampy borders of streams 

 and in shallow water; common, especially northwestward. Aug. Culms 3- 

 9 high. Leaves flat, 2 -3 long, linear-lanceolate. Grain ' long ; gathered 

 for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. miliacca, Miehx. Panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers intermixed; awns short; styles united; grain ovate. TJ. Penn * 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. Leaves involute. 



3. ALOPECTJRUS, L. FOXTAIL GRASS. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palea, which 

 is aAvned on the back below the middle : upper palea wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. Panicle contracted into a 

 cylindrical and soft dense spike. (Name from^dXeoTTT;!, fox, and ovpd, tall, the 

 popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. PRATENSIS, L. (MEADOAV FOXTAIL.) Culm upright, smooth (2 

 high) ; palea equalling the acute glumes ; awn exserted more than, half its length, 

 titristed ; upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. 1|. Meadows and 

 pastures of E. New England and New York. May. -(Nat. from Eu.) 



