38 THE GENUS AGROSTIS. 



lower awl-shaped, upper taper-pointed, and longer than 

 the lower pales. Perennial, flowering in August. The 

 plant emits a strong odor. Connecticut, New York, 

 and the Western States to Illinois. 



LARGE-PANICLED VILFA (Sporobolus cryptandrus). 

 Panicle lead-colored, pyramidal; ba^e usually enclosed 

 in the upper sheath, from which the panicle appears to 

 burst with spreading branches ; flowers awnless ; lower 

 glume very short; stem from one to three feet high; 

 stamens three, anthers yellowish, styles distinct, stigmas 

 white. Grows on sandy soils in New York, and at 

 the South and West, where it is common. 



CLOSE-FLOWERED DROP SEED (Sporobolus compressus). 

 A smooth, leafy grass, with stout, flat stems, found in 

 bogs in the pine barrens of New Jersey, where it forms 

 tussocks from one to two feet high. Of no agricultural 

 value. 



LATE DROP SEED (Sporobolus serotinus) is sometimes 

 found in low, swampy places, with smooth, slender, 

 flattish stems ; leaves few and slender ; panicle spread- 

 ing, with hairy branches ; glumes ovate, obtuse, and 

 half the length of the palea. Flowers in September. 

 It is a delicate grass, of no special agricultural value. 



7. AGROSTIS. Bent Grass. 



One-flowered spikelets in a loose, open panicle ; 

 glumes nearly equal, the lower pointless, and longer 

 than the palea3, which are thin and naked; stamens 

 three ; perennial. 



TALLER THIN GRASS (Agrostis elata). A stout grass, 

 from two to three feet high. Spikelets crowded on the 

 branches of the spreading panicle above the middle ; 

 lower palea awnless ; upper wanting. In swamps, from 

 New Jersey southward. 



