444 GRAMINE^E. Calamagrostis. 



Tribe VI. ARUNBINACEjE. Kunth. 



Spikelets either one-flowered {with or without an abortive pedicel), or many-flowered. 

 Flowers usually ivith long soft hairs at the base. Glumes and palece 2, membranaceo- 

 herbaceous. — Mostly tall perennial grasses. 



21. CALAMAGROSTIS. Adans. ; Trin. diss. \. p. \^^. sMALL-reed. 



[From the Greek, calamos, a reed, and agrostis, a genus of grasses.] 

 Deyeuxia, Beauv. 

 Spikelets one-flowered. Glumes longer than the paleae. Paleae sonnewhat equal, with long 

 hairs at the base, and an abortive pedicel or rudimentary flower ; the lower one with a short 

 awn near the top or on the back. — Panicle branching ; the spikelets all pedicellate. 



1. Calamagrostis Canadensis, Beauv. (Plate CL.) Canadian Small-reed. 



Panicle oblong, loose ; glumes nearly equal, serrulate on the keel, a little rough on the 

 sides ; paleas as long as the glumes, the lower one with a somewhat exserted awn on the back 

 below the middle ; hairs as long as the paleae ; culm and leaves smooth. — Beauv. ; Torr. 

 in Gray's Gram. <^ Cyp. part 1, no. 18; Darlingt. ft. Cest. p. 62; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 

 237, not of Nutt. C. Mexicana, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 46 (excl. syn. Pers.) ; Beck, bot. p. 401. 

 Arundo Canadensis, Michcc. fl.l.p.73; Pursh, fl.l.p.86; Torr. fl.l. p.83; Bigel. ft. 

 Bost. p. 38. C. Purshii, Kunth, enum. 1. p. 208. A. confinis, Willd. enum. 1. p. 127 (fide 

 Muhl). A. cinnoides, Muhl. gram. p. 187. A. agrostoides, Pursh, I. c. 



Culm 2-4 feet high, mostly simple. Leaves a foot long and 3-4 lines wide, flat, some- 

 what glaucous, slightly pubescent above, smoothish underneath ; sheaths close : ligule oblong, 

 lacerate. Panicle erect, at length somewhat expanding ; the branches 4 - 6 in a whorl, 

 rough. Glumes lanceolate, very acute, keeled ; the sides purplish. Paleje unequal, oblong, 

 rather obtuse : lower one slightly 2-toothed at the summit, awned a little below the middle, 

 the awn projecting beyond the flower : upper one entire. Hairs at the base of the paleas 

 copious, white. Rudiment small, clavate, with long hairs at the summit. Stamens 3 : anthers 

 large, yellow. 



Wet meadows : common in the interior of the State, but rare near the seaboard. Fl. 



August. 



2. Calamagrostis coarctata, Torr. (Plate CLI.) Glaucous S^nall-reed. 



Panicle contracted, tjiick and somewhat conglomerate ; glumes narrowly lanceolate, nearly 

 equal, a little longer than the palea?, carinate ; lower palea awned a little below the tip ; hairs 

 two-thirds as long as the flower ; leaves glaucous. — Torr. in Gray's Gram. ^ Cyp. part 1. 

 no. 19 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 62. C. Canadensis, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 46 ; Trin. diss. 1. p. 



