GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 127 



lower leaves distant ; blades 8-12 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, spreading, scabrous; 

 panicles very slender, usually loose-flowered, 1-1.5 dm. long (lateral panicles 

 if present much shorter); spikelets 1.5-2 mm. long; the acute or abruptly cus- 

 pidate glumes f-f as long as the scabrous acute lemma. Rocky woods, N. E. 

 to Minn., and southw. Sept., Oct. 



2. M. tenuiflbra (Willd.) BSP. Similar to the preceding; culms often taller, 

 retrorsely puberulent, at least below, nodes pubescent ; panicle 1.5-3 dm. long, 

 loosely flowered ; spikelets 3-4 mm. long ; the glumes abruptly acuminate, sca- 

 brous, -f- as long as the floret, the first very broad, clasping ; lemma tapering 

 into a slender awn 5-10 mm. long. (M. Willdenowii Trin.) Rocky woods 

 and ravines, Mass, to Ont., Minn., and southw. Aug., Sept. 



-- -- Glumes lanceolate, acute or aristate-pointed. 



M- Glumes not longer than the lemma; culms more or less compressed, retrorsely 

 strigose below the glabrous nodes ; leaves scabrous, ascending. (These three 

 species are exceedingly variable ; each has an awned and an awnless form. 

 The length of the glumes, which are acuminate to aristate, is an unstable 

 character, often varying to the extremes in the same panicle. ) 



3. M. sylvatica Torr. Culms erect or ascending, 6-9 dm. high, freely branch- 

 ing, leafy ; leaves 5-18 cm. long, 2-6 mm. wide ; panicles usually short-exserted, 

 1-2 dm. long, linear or filiform; spikelets not crowded, on rather long erect 

 branches, usually green or stramineous, 2.5-3 mm. long; glumes acuminate, 

 sometimes aristate, shorter than the scabrous lemma, which is mucronate or 

 tipped with a slender awn as much as 6-12 mm. long. Moist rocky woods and 

 wooded banks, N. B. to Ont., la., and southw. Aug.-Oct. 



4. M. folibsa Trin. Similar to the preceding in size, habit and foliage ; pan- 

 icles long-exserted, 8-15 cm. long, oblong or cylindrical, glomerate; spikelets 

 more or less densely crowded on the rather short ascending or appressed branches, 

 usually purple ; glumes mucronate or aristate, nearly or quite as long as the 

 awned or awnless lemma. (M. ambigua Torr.) Swampy 



ground, Me. to Ont., S. Dak., and southw. Sept. 



5. M. mexicana (L.) Trin. Similar to M. foliosa, often branch- 

 ing at the base ; the culms decumbent and rooting at the lower 

 nodes ; panicles numerous, 5-10 cm. long, ovoid or subpyramidal, 

 terminal on the culm and its many rather short branches, usually "' 

 partly inclosed within the upper sheath; glumes acuminate or 



aristate, about as long as the acute, acuminate or awned lemma which is 

 sometimes smooth. ( M. polystachya Mackenzie & Bush.) Sandy and gravelly 

 stream-banks and waste ground, N. B. to Ont., S. Dak., and southw. Aug., 

 Sept. FIG. 89. 



*+ *+ Glumes aristate, much exceeding the awnless lemma. 



6. M. racembsa (Michx.) BSP. Culms erect, 3-9 dm. high, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched ; blades 5-12 dm. long, scabrous ; panicles 5-10 cm. long, dense 



and spike-like, or interrupted at base ; spikelets 4-6 mm. long ; 

 / / the aristate glumes subequal, much exceeding the acute lemma. 



/./ (M. glomerata Trin.) Moist meadows and low ground, Nfd. 



Ul to N. J., and westw. Aug.-Oct. FIG. 90. 



B * * Glumes not more than \ the length of the floret; no clusters 



of scaly rootstocks. 

 90. M. racemosa. 



Spikeletxs. 7. M. SchrebSri J. F. Gmel. (DROP-SEED, NIMBLE WILL.) 



Culms 3-8 dm. long, erect or ascending from a decumbent base, 

 often rooting at the lower nodes, diffusely much branched ; blades 3-8 cm. long, 

 2-4 mm. wide; panicles 5-15 cm. long, numerous, slender, the erect branches 

 rather densely flowered ; spikelets (excluding the awn) 2 mm. long ; first glume 

 obsolete or nearly so, the second minute, truncate ; lemma tapering into a slender 

 awn 3-5 mm. long. (M. diffusa Schreb.) Dry woods, hillsides and waste 

 places, Me. to Ont., Minn., and southw. Aug., Sept. 



