794 ORDER 156. GRAMJNE^E. 



Fls. awned. Awns conspicuous, about equaling or exceeding the pales Nos. 1, 2 



Awns much shorter than the lanceolate pales Nos. 8, 4 



FLs. awnless. Panicle contracted, with short, ascending branches Nos. 5, 6 



Pauicle very loose, with spreading or reflexeu branches Nos. 7, 8 



1 P. Mytints L. Culm 6 12' long, erect, geniculate near the base; Ivs. 2 3' 

 long, subulate, coucave ; stip. bifid or retuse ; panicle slender, crowded ; spikelets 



4 6-flowered ; glumes minute, equal ; fls. subulate, hairy ; lower pale wtth an awn 



twice its length; sta. 1 ; stig. plumous, white. 00 Sandy fields. Car. to Ga. Mar., 

 Apr. 



2 F. tenella "Willd. SLENDEII FESCUE. Culm filiform, wiry, often growing in 

 tufts and geniculate at base, 6 12'; Ivs. erect, linear-setaceous, 2 3' long; sheaths 

 subpubescent, with lacerated stipules ; pan. simple, contracted, rather secund, 

 branches alone or in pairs; spikelets G to ^-flowered, with subulate, subequal 

 glumes, at length brownish ; fls. subulate, their awns of about equal length. OJ 

 Sandy fields, N. Eng to 111. and S. States. 



3 F. ovina L. SHEEP'S FESCUE. Culm erect, ascending at base, 6 10' ; Ivs. 

 very narrow, rough, radical ones very numerous, 2 4' long, cauline few, short, 

 erect; pan. few-flowered, simple, contracted; spikckts ovate, about ^-flowered; 

 pale lance-ovate. 14 A. valuable grass for pasturage. Jn. p:ur. 



/3. VIVIPARA. Glumes and pales changing to leafy tufts. Mts. 



4 F. duriuscula L. HARD FESCUE. Culm smooth 12 18'; Ivs. linear, very 

 acute, a little scabrous; stipules membranaceous, lacerate ; pan. oblong, spreading, 

 inclining to one side, branches in pairs; spikekts nearly terete, 5 7 -flowered: 

 lower glume smaller, upper one 3-veined ; palese unequal, lower with short awns. 

 1[ Fields and pastures. A fine grass, common, Car. to Can. June, July. 



/?. RUBRA. Spikelets 7 to 11 -flowered; herbage often tinged with red. Dry 

 fields, eastward. 



5 F. pratensis Huds. MEADOW FESCUE. Culm smooth, 3 if higli ; Ivs. lance- 

 linear, smooth, rough-edged, a foot long, on smooth, loose sheaths ; panicle sub- 

 erect, branches short, in pairs, ascending ; spikelets lance-ovate, acute, 6 to ^-flow- 

 ered, 6 9" long, racemous on the branches ; lower glume shorter ; lower palete 

 acuminate or mucronate. A fine grass, in meadows, U. S. and Can. Jn. 



6 F. elatior L. TALL FESCUE GRASS. St. smooth, 2 3f high ; Ivs. lance-linear, 

 veined, smooth, rough-edged, about 8' long ; sheaths veined, smooth with obso- 

 lete stipules ; panicle branched, erect in flower, spreading, somewhat 1-sided, 

 branches subsolitary, spikelets short, alternate somewhat secund, 2 to 5-flowered, 

 about 3" long; pales smooth, chartaceous, barely acute. Fields and meadows. 

 Jn., JL 



7 F. rigida Kunth. Culm decumbent, ascending 3 to 5' ; Ivs. much shorter, subu- 

 late, involute when dry ; pan. subsimple, secund, an inch or two long, the branches 

 alternate, oppressed; spikelets lance-linear, 5 to 9-flowered; fls. acutish, terete, 

 purplish. In dry soils, Car., near the coast. Plant dwarf and rigid. Apr., May. 



8 F. ntitans TVilld. NODDING FESCUE. Culm erect, slender, smooth, with black 

 nodes, about 3f high ; Ivs. narrow-linear, a foot long, veined ; panicle slender, dif- 

 fuse, at length nodding, and the slender branches deflexed; spikelets lance-ovate, 3 5- 

 flowered; fls. smooth, awnless and nearly veinless. If Open woodlands, in most 

 of the States. June. (F. Shortii Kunth., when the grass is stouter and the spike- 

 lets about 5 -flowered.) 



37. EATCTNIA, Raf. (Dedicated to Prof. Amos Eaton, the well- 

 known author of the " Manual of Botany," which bears his name.) 

 Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, numerous, paniculate, silvery ; glumes 2, 

 very dissimilar, the lower linear, 1-veined, upper broadly obovate, ob- 

 tuse or abruptly pointed, 3-veined, with broad, scarious margins \ pales 

 obtusish, awnless, chartaceous, glabrous ; caryopsis oblong. U Smooth 

 and delicate grasses with simple, csespitous culms. 



E. obtusata Gray. Culm erect, geniculate below, leafy, 1 to 2f ; nodes pubes- 

 cent, blackish, contracted; Ivs. 3 to 6' by 2", scabrous, acuminate, shorter than 

 the sheaths; stip. lacerate; pan. contracted, 3 to 5' long, 6 to 12" diam., dense, 

 branches fascicled, short, oppressed; spikelets Ij" long, 2-flowered, tumid; lower 



