GRAMtNE^E. (GRASS FA1IILY.) 561 



33. PDA, L. MEADOW-GRASS. SPEAK-GRASS. 



Spikelets ovate, or lance-ovate, compressed, several- (2 -10-) flowered, hi an 

 open panicle. Glumes mostly shorter than the flowers ; the lower smaller. Low- 

 er palea membranaceo-herbaceous, with a delicate scarious margin, compressed- 

 keeled, pointless, 5-nerved (the intermediate nerves more obscure or obsolete), 

 the principal nerves commonly clothed at and towards the base with soft hairs 

 or long and crisped cobweb-like wool ; upper palea membranaceous, 2-toothed. 

 Stamens 2 or 3. Stigmas simply plumose. Grain oblong, free. Culms tufted. 

 Leaves smooth, usually flat and soft. (An ancient Greek name for Grass.) 

 * Root annual : branches of the short panicle single or in pairs. 



1. P. ftiimia, L. (Low SPEAR-GRASS.) Culms spreading or decum- 

 bent (3' -8' long), flattened; panicle often 1-sided; spikelets crowded, very 

 short-pedicelled, 3 - 7-flowered ; lower palea delicately more or less hairy on the 

 nerves below. Cultivated and waste grounds, everywhere : but doubtful if real- 

 ly indigenous here. April -Oct. (Eu.) 



* * Root perennial : culms tufted, often stoloniferous at the base. 



+~ Branches of the simple panicle mostly solitary or in pairs, short but slender, smootkf 



bearing single or few purplish spikelets. (Alpine.) 



2. P. laxa, Hcenke. Culms upright (4' -9' high); panicle nodding, often 

 racemose-contracted ; spikelets ovate, 3 - 5-flowered ; lower palea obscurely- 

 nerved, villous on the midrib and marginal nerves below ; leaves narrow ; 

 ligules elongated. Alpine mountain-tops of Maine, New Hampshire, and N. 

 New York, and high northward. (The nearly related P. alpina is found in 

 Canada, and may occur within our borders.) (Eu.) 



*- -t- Brandies of the very loose panicle long and capillary, mostly in pairs or in 

 threes, naked below (more or less scabrous) : spikelets few or widely scattered, pretty 

 large (3" -4" long, pale-green, sometimes purple-tinged), loosely 3 - 5-flowered : 

 culm jlattish (l-2 high), plant soft and smooth, flowering in spring. 



M- Flowers (oblong) obtuse, as also tfie larger glume : panicle diffuse : lower palea 

 rather conspicuously scarious at the apex, villous below the middle on the keel and 

 marginal nerves. 



3. P. brevifolia, Muhl. Culm stoloniferous from the base, 2 - 3-leaved, 

 the upper leaves very short (^'-2' long}, lanceolate, all abruptly cuspidate-tipped; 

 branches of the short panicle mostly in pairs ; lower palea rather obscurely nerved, 

 cobwebby at the base. (P. pungens, Nuit., excl. syn. Ell. P. cuspidata, Barton. 

 The older and also more appropriate name is here restored.) Rocky or hilly 

 woodlands. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and sparingly westward. April, May. 

 Culm scarcely surpassing the long root-leaves. 



4. P. flexildsa, Muhl. Culm slender (not stoloniferous ?) ; its leave* 

 all linear (2' -5' long) and gradually taper-pointed ; panicle very effuse (its branches 

 2' -4' long to the spikelets or first ramitication) ; lower jxilea prominently nerved, 

 no web at the base. (P. autumnalis, Muhl. in EU. P. campyle, Schult.) Dry 

 woods, Virginia, Kentuckv, and southward. Feb. -May. Wrongly con- 

 founded with the last, though near it. P. autumnalis is an inappropriate name, 

 and there is now no obstacle to restoring the earlier published and unobjection- 

 able (but not descriptive) name of P. flexuosa. 



