790 OKDER 156. GRAMINE^E. 



numerous spikelets which are 7 to 11-flowered and only 1J" long; pales hyaline, 

 ovate, pointed, 3-veined. CD Can. to Ga. and La. (Poa conferta Ell.) The 2 pales 

 fall together. 



5 E. nitida. Calm erect, glabrous and polished as well as the whole plant, 12 to 

 20'. Lvs. long, linear, involute when dry, with a few hairs at top of sheath ; 

 pan. diffuse, much longer than the culm ; spikelets lanceolate, about 8-flowered, 

 hyaline glumes and pales sharply serrulate on the keel. CD S. Car. and adjacent 

 islands. Jn. Aug. (Poa nitida Ell.) 



6 E. hirsiita. Culm subsimple, compressed, erect, 1 2f; li-s. lance-linear, attenu- 

 ate at end, surpassing the stem, hairy at base ; sheailis loose, longer than the inter- 

 nodes, lower ones hairy, upper ones smooth ; stip. fringed ; panicle very large, 

 capillary, branches spreading, reflexed in fruit, hirsute iu the axils ; spikelets ob- 

 long, 2 to 3", purplish, 5 to 16-flowered, long pedicelled ; pale ovate, acute, dis- 

 tinctly 3-veined, upper ciliate. If Sandy fields, U. S. JI., Aug. The rachis 

 never (?) becomes pectinate. (Poa hirsuta MX.) Varies with the Iva. and sheaths 

 nearly smooth and spikelets larger (P. spectabilis Ph.) Also with the whole pani- 

 cle, except the spikelets, hirsute like the axils. And thirdly, with the spikeleta 

 racemously appressed along the branchlets (P. refracta Ell.) 



7 E. Furshii Schrad. Qulm decumbent at base, ascending G to 12 or 20' ; Ivs. 

 subulate, 1 to 3' long, upper surface rough ; sheaths very hairy at throat ; pan. 

 long and loose, the lower branches, or all, hairy in their axils ; ped. capillary, 

 longer than the spikelets which are lance-oblong; 5 to 12-flowered; pales merely 

 acute, purplish. 0) Dry fields, Md. to Ga., common. Jl., Aug. (P. tenella ? Ph. 

 Ell.) 



8 E. capillaris ISTees. Culm branched at base, smooth, 1 to 2f ; Ivs. linear, at- 

 tenuated above, flat, smooth ; sheaths striate, with long hairs about the throat 

 and margin ; stip. short ; pan. very large (near a foot long) with diffusely spread- 

 ing, capillary branches, axils not bearded, or the lower slightly : spikelets ovate, 

 acute, about 3-flowered, on rathef rigid, long, capillary pedicels ; pales scabrous, 

 f " long, acute, the 2 side veins scarcely visible. Dry grounds, U. S. Aug. 



9 E. trichodes. Culm simple. 12 to 20', erect; Ivs. long (10 to 18"), rough, 

 thinly hairy, as well as the sheaths, throat with long hairs ; pan. rather longer than 

 culm, narrow, capillary, only the lower axils bearded ; spikelets not colored, 2 to 

 5 (mostly 3)-flowered ; pales and gls. hyaline, distinctly 3-veined, lanceolate, IV' 

 long. U Sandy soils, S. and W. States. (P. trichodes Nutt P. tcnuis Ell.) " 



10 E. erythrogona Nees. Culms very branching, in tufts, ascending 3 to 10' ; 

 joints a narrow red ring ; Ivs. narrow, convolute when dry. the upper about equal- 

 ing the oblong, rather dense panicle; spikelets 2 to 5 (mostly 3)-flowered, 1 to !$''' 

 long, bluish ; gk. lanceolate ; pales ovate, all acute and nearly veinless. GO Waste 

 and cultivated grounds, Penu. (Jackson) to 111. and South. Wht>le plant bluish. 



40. PO X A, L. SPEAR GRASS. MEADOW GRASS. (Gr. rroa, grass.) 

 Spikelets 2 to 5 (rarely 9)-flowered, compressed ; glumes subequal, point- 

 less, shorter than the contiguous flowers ; pales herbaceous, soft-awnless, 

 the lower compressed-carinate, 5-veincd, usually clothed 011 the veins 

 below with a cobweb-like, matted wool, the upper pale bicarinate ; stig- 

 mas simply plumous; caryopsis free. Smooth grasses with soft flat Ivs., 

 the fls. paniculate. 



1 Branches of the panicle In 2s, 3s, or often single. (*) 



* Flowers not webbed, merely pubescent on the back, (a) 



a Annual. Panicle dense with subsessile spikelets No. 1 



a Perennial. Panicle loose, spikelets long-pedicellate Nos. 2, 3 



* Flowers webbed. Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, 2". Pan. very slender No. 4 



Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, many, panicle diffuse Nos. 5, 6 



few (4 to S). Mountains No. 7 



Spikelets mostly 5-flowered, ovate, short-pedicelled Nos. 8, 9 



^T Pranches of the panicle in about 5s, half-whorled. (b) 



b Spikelets 2 to 4-flowered, obtuse, pedicellate, loose No. 10 



acute, pedicellate, very loose Nos. 11,12 



b Spikelets 3 to 5-flowered, subsessile in rather dense panicles Xos. 13, 14 



1 P. annua L. ANNUAL SPEAR GRASS. Culms decumbent and rooting at the 



