GRAMINEjE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 571 



3. E. StriutUS, Willd. Spike dense but slender, upright or slightly nod- 

 ding (3' -4' long); spikclcts mostly in pairs, 1-2- (or rarely 3-) flowered, mi- 

 nutely bristly-hairy; glumes linear -awl-shaped or truly awl-shaped, bristle-awned f 

 about thrice the length of the flowers, not counting their capillary awn (which is 1 

 long); leaves (rather narrow) and sheaths smooth or hairy, or downy. Var. 

 viLL6sus (E. villosus, MM.!) has a somewhat stouter spike and very hairy 

 glumes Rocky woods and banks ; rather rare. July. The most slender 

 and smallest-flowered species. 



* * Glumes and palece both awnless and soft in texture : reed-like perennials. 



4. E. lliollis, Trin. (not of R. Br.) Stout (3 high) ; spike thick, erect 

 (8 long); spikelets 2 or 3 at each joint, 5 - 8-flowered ; the lanceolate pointed 

 5- 7-nerved glumes (!' long) with thu pointed paleae soft-villous, the apex of the 

 culm velvety ; rhachis of the spikelets separating into joints. Shore of Lakes 

 Huron, Superior, Maine (Tuckerman ;} and northward. (Near E. arenarius.) 



46. GYMNASTIC HUM, Schreb. BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-3 (or sometimes solitary) on each joint of the rhachis, raised oa 

 a very short callous pedicel, loosely 2-4-flowered (when solitary placed flatwise 

 on the rhacliis). Glumes none ! or small awn-like deciduous rudiments (whence 

 the name of this genus [otherwise nearly as in Elymus], from yv/ii/ds, naked, and 

 OTt'^oy, a rank). 



.1. G. HystriX, Schreb. Spike upright, loose (3'-6' long); the spread- 

 ing spikelets 2-3 together, early deciduous ; flowers smoothish, or often rough 

 hairy, tipped with an awn thrice their length (!' long); leaves and sheaths 

 smoothish. 1J. (Elymus Hystrix, L.) Moist woodlands; rather common 

 July. 



47. A IRA, L. (in part). HAIR-GRASS. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, in an open diffuse panicle ; the (small) flowers both per- 

 fect (sometimes with a third imperfect), usually shorter than the mcmbranaceous 

 keeled glumes, hairy at the base ; the upper remotish. Lower palea truncate 

 or mostly denticulate or eroded at the summit, bearing a slender bent or straight 

 awn on its back. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base. Ovary glabrous. 

 Grain oblong. (An ancient Greek name for Darnel.) 



{ 1. DESCIlAMPSIA, Beauv., Trin. Lower palea thin and scarious or mem- 

 branaceoits, delicately 3-5-nerved, eroded or toothed at the truncate summit; the 

 awn attached mostly a little above the base : grain not grooved, mostli/ free : glumes 

 about equalling the flowers. 



1. A. flexuosa, L. (COMMON HAIR-GRASS.) Culms slender, nearly 

 naked (l-2 high), from the small tufts of involute-bristle-form leaves (l'-G ; 

 long) ; branches of the small spreading panicle capillary ; awn about twice tht 

 length of the pi i lea. ty Dry places; common. June. (Eu.) 



2. A. caespitosa, L. Culms in close tufts (2 -4 high); leaves flat t 

 linear; panicle pyramidal or oblong (f>' long); awn l>arely equalling the 



1J. Shores of lakes and streams ; not rare northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



