ORDER 15G. GRAMINEvG. 775 



6. A. elata Trin. TALLER THIS GRASS. Culm erect, rigid, thin, simple, rather 

 stout, 2 3/high, leafy; Ivs. broadly (1 2") linear, scabrous, flat, 6 8' long, tho 

 sheaths scarcely smooth; panicle purple, contracted, with long, whorled, erect- 

 spreading branches dense-flowered half their length; glumes lanceolate, li", tho 

 the upper a little longer than the 5-veined pale. Swamps, N". Jer. to G-a., Ala. and 

 Ky. (Jackson). Jl, Aug. (T. elatum Ph. A. altissimum Tuckm.) 



5. SPOROB'OLUS Brown. DROP-SEED GRASS. (Gr. a~opd, seed, 

 3d/iA(t) t to cast.) Spikelets 1-flowered ; glumes 2, unequal, the lower 

 smaller ; fl. sessile ; paleae 2, beardless, awn less, usually exceeding the 

 glumes, the upper 2-keeled ; stam. 2 or 3 ; stig. plumous with simple 

 hairs ; caryopsis free, often with a loose pericarp, deciduous. Tough, 

 wiry grasses with mostly rolled and rigid leaves and the panicles more 

 or less contracted. 



VILIA. Grain (carropsis) Knear-cylindrii 1 . Glumes snbcquul Nos. 1, 2 



$ SPOKOBOI.US. Grain oval or globous, some loose in the pericarp. (*) 



* Glumes very unequal, ono of them as long as the paleu:. (a) 



a Panicle open and stalked, pyramidaL Xos. 3, 4 



a Panicle sheathed at the base more or less Nos. 5, 



* Glumes somewhat equal, both shorter than the palea?. (b) 



b Panicle contracted and spike-like, sheathed or not Nos. 7, S 



b Panicle open and stalked, long and raceme-like Nos. 9, 10 



1 S. Virginicus Beauv. Culms numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy a' 

 base, branched, about a foot long; Ivs. somewhat 2-rowed, involute, rigid, erect, 

 2 3' long, with smooth sheaths which are hairy at the throat and swollen with 

 the enclosed panicles ; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones 

 concealed; glumes nearly equal, nearly as long as the subequal palece. U Sandy 

 soils, Middle and S. States. Sept, Oct. (Agrost. L.) 



2 S. vaginaeflorus Torr. Culms simple, ascending, slender, forming tufts G 12' 

 high ; Ivs. involute-subulate, rather rigid, short (2 4') ; panicles contracted, spike 

 form, lateral and terminal, mostly concealed in the sheaths ; glumes about equal, 

 and equaling the subequal pales ; caryopsis linear, a third shorter than the pales. 

 (D Dry, gravelly lields, U. S. more common W. and S. (Agr. MuhL Crypsis, Nutt.) 



3 S. heterolepis. Culm 1 2f high, smooth ; Ivs. setaceous, somewhat convo- 

 lute, scabrous on the margins ; lower sJieath-s pubescent, upper ones smooth ; panicle 

 spreading, pyramidal, few-flowered ; glumes purplish, very unlike, outer one subull- 

 form, inner one ovate, cuspidate, membranaceous in texture, 1-veined; pales ob- 

 long, obtuse, thin, a little shorter than the superior glume, the lower 1-veined, api- 

 culate, the upper 2- veined, shorter; sta. 3; anth. linear, reddish; fr. roundish, 

 smooth. Conn, to Wj. not rare. Aug., Sept. (Yilfa, Gray.) 



4 S. jiinceus Mich. Glaucous; culm erect, 1 2fhigh, terete, slender; Ivs. erect, 

 2 6" by 1", concave, convolute when dry, margin scabrous; sheaths much 

 shorter than the internodes: stip. short; pan. oblong-pyramidal, branches verti- 

 cillate, about in Gs ; glumes purple, similar, lanceolate, acute, upper as long as tho 

 paleaa, the lower twice shorter; palea subequal; anth. and sty. whitish. If. Fenn. 

 to Flor. and La., iu barrens. Aug. Oct. 



5 S. cryptandnis Gray. Culm 2 Sfhigh; Ivs. broadly (2") linear, flat; sheaths 

 bearded at the throat ; panicle pyramidal, its base enclosed by the terminal sheath, 

 branches spreading, hairy in the axils; tls. bluish; pales subequal, as long as the 

 upper glume, twice longer than the lower. Dry, .sandy soils, AV. and S. States, 

 rare northward. Aug. (Agr. & Yilfa cryptandra Torr.) 



6 S. asper Kunth. Rt. white, fibrous ; culm stout, glabrous, geniculate at base, 

 2f high; Ivs. rigid, involute, rough-edged, 2 8' by 1 3", tapering to a pungent 

 point ; branches with short leaves, barren, also ending in a long, pungent point ; 

 sheaths ciliate at edge and bearing dense tufts of long, white hairs at top ; panicles 

 terminal and lateral, nearly enclosed in the long sheaths ; spikelets blackish-green ; 



' lower glume very short, upper a little longer than the pales ; fr. compressed, obo- 

 vate i" in length. U Ohio, (Sullivant) to III (Agrost. MX. Yilfa, Beauv.) 



7 S. longifolins. Culms slender, tufted, 2 3f high, from long fibrous roots ; 

 Ivs. all involute, very long (1 of), tapering to a long thread-like point; panicle 



