562 GRAMINKJS. (GRASS FAMIIT.) 



** 4-*. Flowers (oblong-lanceolate) and both glumes acute: pmicle narrow. 



5. P. Sftlsoclcs. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the uppermost 

 (2^' -4' long) often sheathing the base of th v e panicle, the capillary branches of 

 which are apprcssed when young, and mostly in threes or fours ; spikelets 3- 

 flowered (pale green, soft) ; lower palea very obscurely nerved, villous on the 

 keel below, and with a narrow cobwebby tuft at its base, otherwise glabrous. 

 (P. nemoralis, Torr. ed 1 : but wholly different from the European species cf 

 that name.) Woods, on hill-sides, New England to Wisconsin. May, June. 

 *--*- Branches of the rather narrow but loose long-peduncled panicle in threes or 



Jives, or rarely in pairs, short or shortish, above bearing scattered and rather few 

 spikelets ; these barely 2" long, pale green, rather loosely 2 - ^-flowered : flowers 

 (oblong) and glumes obtuse ; lower palea scarcely scarious-tipped : plant very smooth, 

 slender (l-3 high) : culm-leaves lance-linear, acute, l' -3' long, sofl. 



6. P. debilis, Torr. Culm terete, weak ; branches of the small panicle 

 slender (the lower l'-2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes ; flowers 

 very obtuse, smooth and glabrous, except a sparing web at their base. Rocky 

 woodlands, Rhode Island and N: New York to Wisconsin. May. 



7. P. sylvestris. Culm flatfish, erect; branches of the oblong-pyramidal 

 panicle short, in fives or more ; lower palea villous on the keel for its whole length , 

 and on the margins below the middle, sparingly webbed at the base. Rocky woods 

 and meadows, Ohio to Wisconsin, Kentucky-, and southward. June. 



t- +- *- *- Branches of the narrow or oblong panicle mostly short, in fives or some- 

 times in twos and threes, rough, mostly compound and bearing very numerous closely- 

 flowered spikelets : floivers acute or acutish, more or less webbed at the base. 



++ Panicle open, its branches in fives : the 3 - 5-flowered spikelets all distinctly pedicelled, 

 acute, slightly flattened ; lower palea villous or pubescent on the keel and marginal 

 nerves, the intermediate nerves obsolete: culms erect (2 -3 high), terete, growing 

 in tufts, not at all stoloniferous at the base. 



8. P. scrotina, Ehrhart. (FALSE RED-TOP. FOWL MEADOW-GRASS.) 

 Leaves narrowly linear; ligules elongated ; spikelets 2-4- (rarely 5-) flowered (!"- 

 2" long) ; flowers acutish, green, often tinged with dull purple. (P. nemoralis, 

 Pursh. P. crocata, Michx. belongs to this or the next.) Wet meadows and 

 low banks of streams ; common everywhere northward. July, Aug. A good 

 grass for moist meadows. (Eu.) 



9. P. nemoralis, L. Leaves linear ; ligules obsolete or very short .; spik* 

 lets 4 - 5-flowered, rather larger^ and the flowers and glumes more sharply aci*if and 

 narrower; otherwise nearly as in the preceding, which is too nearly related to 

 it. Wisconsin (Lapham), and northward. (Eu.) 



*-* -* Panicle with the flattened spikelets crowded on the branches, mostly short-pedi- 

 celled, sometimes almost sessile : culms stoloniferous at the base, except in No. 10. 



10. P. TRIVIALIS, L. (ROUGH MEADOW-GRASS.) Culms (l-3 high) 

 and sheaths usually rather rough; branches of the pyramidal dilVuse panicle mostly 

 in fives ; spikelets 3 - 5-flowered ; flowers acute, prominently 5-nerved a little hairy 

 on the keel, otherwise glabrous ; ligule acute, oblong. Moist meadows ; less 

 common and less valuable than the next. July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



