Calamujrostis. GRAMINE.'E. 279 



nuUmeiit of a sccoml lloret. Soiu.' liotaiiists give this section the i':nik of a genus, leaving in 

 CLdaniMirodis only the species in which the rudiment is hickiug. While none of the species are 

 cultivated as pasture or meadow grasses, C. Canadensis is of considerable agricultural importance, 

 as it forms a large share of the "wild hay" cut upon the western prairies. C arenarm, Koth, 

 with very laro-e ( i inch) spikelets crowded in a dense cylindrical spike, though abundant upon 

 both shores of the Atlantic, does not appear to have been found upon the western coast. In some 

 parts of Europe and on the New England coast, it has been planted to restrain blowing sands, its 

 tou^h rootstocks extending for 20 or 30 feet and binding the sand very etfectively. It is a coarse 

 rigid grass and distasteful to cattle except when very young. Some European botauists reter it 

 toPsaimna, Beau v., and others to Ammophila, Host. 

 Panicle loose and open, the spikelets mostly tinged with purple. 



Hairs of the hyaline lower palet copious, about equalling it or some- 

 times a little shorter. 

 Spikelets less than 2 lines long. 1- ^- Canadensis. 



Spikelets 2 lines long or n.ore. 2. C LaXGSDoUFFII. 



Hairs copious and one-third to one-half shorter than the palet. 3. C. deschampsioiuks. 



Hairs scanty, less than one-fourth the length of the palet. 



Plant tall (2 to 3 feet). Leaves ample and Hat. 4. C. Bolandeui. 



Plant dwarf (6 to 15 inches). Leaves convolute-setaceous. 5. 0. Lkeweiu. 



Panicle strict and narrow, its short branches erect and appressed after 

 flowering : lower palet meinbrauaceous, sometimes of similar 

 texture to the glumes. , . i , 



Hairs at base of the lloret nearly equalling or about one-third shorter 

 than the palet and exceeded by those of the rudiment. 

 Spikelets 2 to 2i lines long. Glumes very thick. 6. C. crassiglumis. 



Spikelets I4 lines long. 7. C. .strict A. 



Hairs short, blirely half as long as the palet. 



Awn from below the middle of the palet and but little exceeding it. 8. C. Aleutica. 

 Awn from near the base of the [)alet and long-exserted. 'J. C. sylvatica. 



% Panicle loose and open, mostly tinged with purple. 



1. C. Canadensis, Beauv. Culms tall, erect, smooth, 3 to 5 feet high, rarely 

 branching below : leaves about a foot long, 2 to 4 lines wide, Hat, minutely scabrous : 

 ligule short, lacerate ; sheaths closely appressed, shorter than the internodes, smooth 

 01° slightly roughened : panicle 4 to 6 inches long, oblong, the common axis and rays 

 scabrous : spikelets from 1^ to If lines long : glumes lanceolate, acute : lower palet 

 nearly as long, obtuse and more or less 2-toothed at the apex, surrounded by copious 

 white hairs, and awned on the back from near the middle with a very delicate bristle 

 not much stouter than the hairs, and usually barely equalling or rarely slightly ex- 

 ceeding the palet ; upper palet a little shorter : rudiment very minute. — Torrey, Fl. 

 K York, ii. 444, t. 150; Gray, Proc. Anier. Acad. iv. 77, and Man. 615, t. 8. 

 Arundo Canadensis, Michx. Fl. i. 73. C. Mexicana, Nutt. Gen. i. 46, excl. syn. 

 Pers. Cinna {%) PursJdi, Kunth, Enum. i. 208. 



Moist places, mostly in the Sierra Nevada {HiUebrand, Bolandcr), to Oregon (HowrJl), and 

 British Columbia, and from subarctic America to Pennsylvania and New Mexico. In the older 

 States, where this grass is abundant, it is known by the not very descriptive name ot " Blue 

 Joint," and is regarded as a valuable meadow grass, though it is encouraged rather than culti- 

 vated. By some the hay is considereil neai'ly as nutritious as that from Timothy {Phleicm pratcnse). 

 Large quantities are cut on the prairies, it yielding in rich soil very heavy crops. 



2. C. Langsdorffii, Trin. Culm, leaves and panicle as in C. Canadensis : spike- 

 lets 2 to 3 lines long : glumes lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, attenuate-acuminate, 

 often cinereously strigose-pubescent : awn stouter than in the preceding and often 

 slightly exceeding the palet. — Gram. Uni-Sesquifl. 225; Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad, 

 iv. 77. C. Oregonensis, Buckl. in Proc. Phil. Acad. 1862, 92, in part; Gray, 

 same, 334. 



Calaveras Connty (HiUebrand) ■ Oregon {ToJmir, iVulfnf!), and northward to Arctic Americ^i. 

 Found also in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Rocky Mountains, and m the north- 

 ern regions of both continents. Liable to be confounded with C. Canadensis, from which it is 

 mainly distino-uished by its longer and more acute glumes and its stouter and (usually) exserted 

 awn. In theX'alifornian specimens the glumes barely exceed two lines long, being j.recisely like 

 the Orec'ou specimens of Nuttall (C. Columbiensis, Nutt. in herb.), which Dr. Gray (Kevisiou ot 



