AGROSTIS. CLX1. GRAMINE.&. 597 



larger, sometimes longer, often shorter than the paleae; paleae 2, 

 unequal, lower one larger, awnless or awned, larger than the glumes, 

 coating the caryopsis. 



1 . Glumes longer than the palece. 



1. A. VULGARIS. Smith. (A. polymorpha. Gray.} Red-top. Bent Grass. 



St. erect, 1 2f high; panicle spreading, with the branches finally divari- 

 cate ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, veined, scabrous, with smooth, striate sheaths, and 

 short, truncate stipules ; lower palea twice as large as the upper, and nearly as 

 long as the lanceolate, acute glumes. 7J. U. S. A common and very valuable 

 grass, spread over hills, vales, and meadows, forming a soft, dense turf. Flow- 

 ers very numerous, purplish. July. 



2. A. ALBA. (A. decumbens. Muhl.y White-top. Florin Grass. 



St. decumbent, geniculate, rooting at the lower joints, sending out stolons; 

 Ivs. linear-lanceolate, smooth, those of the stolons erect and subulate ; sheaths 

 smooth, with a long, membranaceous stipule ; panicle dense, narrow, at length 

 spreading, whitish, sometimes purplish ; lower palea 5- veined, rarely awned. 

 (f) N. Eng. to Ohio, in meadows, or in dry soils j hence its characters are vari- 

 able, being often nearly erect. June. 



3. A. STRICTA. Willd. Bent Grass. 



St. erect, smooth, with black nodes ; Ivs. linear-lanceolate, scabrous on 

 the margin, with cleft, white stipules; panicle elongated, strict, the branches 

 about 5, flexuous, scabrous, erect; glumes equal, lanceolate; palea unequal, 

 smaller than the glumes, with an awn at the base of the outer one twice longer 

 than the flower. %. Fields, N. Eng., N. Y. June. 



4. A. CANINA. Dog's Bent Grass. 



St. prostrate, somewhat branched, rooting at the lower nodes, about 2f 

 long ; panicle at length spreading, with angular, rough branches ; glumes elon- 

 gated ; lower palea furnished with an incurved awn upon the beak twice its 

 length. % Introduced and common in wet meadows. July. 



5. A. PICKERINGII. Tuckm. (A. canina, 0. alpina. Oakes.} 



St. erect ; Ivs. flat, linear ; pan. ovate, diffuse, branches verticillate, rather 

 erect, scabrous ; gl. subequal, keel of the lower mucronate at tip, upper acute\ 

 smoothish ; lower palea ovate-lanceolate, acute or erose, veined, upper ovate, 

 veinless; awn from the middle of the back, contorted, twice longer than the 

 fls. White Mts. 



/?. rupicola. Tuckm. Smaller ; pan. contracted, smoothish, often purplish. 



Mountains, Vermont. 



2. VILFA. Glumes not longer than the subequal, awnless palece. 



6. A. VIRGINICA. (Vilfa vaginiflora. Gray.) 



S's. numerous, assurgent, procumbent and hairy at base, nearly simple, 

 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 en- 

 closed panicles ; panicles spike-form, terminal and lateral, the lateral ones con- 

 cealed ; glumes nearly equal, about as long as the subequal paleae. (T) Sandy 

 soils, Middle States. Sept., Oct. 



7. A. COMPRESSA. Torr. (Vilfa compressa. Trinius.} Flat-stemmed 

 Agrostis. Glabrous ; st. erect, compressed, simple, leafy, branched at base, 



1 2f high ; Irs. narrowly linear, compressed, scarcely shorter than the stem ; 

 keel prolonged into the open sheath ; stip. very short ; panicle purple, subsimple, 

 contracted, the branches few and erect ; glumes equal, acute, shorter than the 

 paleae, the upper emarginate, rarely mucronate ; palea ovate, obtuse, smooth, 

 sometimes deeply cleft ; stig. purple. Sandy swamps, N. J. Sept. 



8. A. SEROTINA. Torr. (Vilfa serotina. ejusdem.} 



St. 1218' high, filiform, compressed, growing in patches, smooth, often 

 viviparous at the nodes ; Ivs. 2 3' by ", keeled, smooth ; sheaths open ; stip. 

 ovate, short ; panicle 3 10' long, capillary, diffuse, branches flexuous, alter- 

 nate ; spikclets elliptical, scarcely i" long; glume ovate, 1-veined, unequal, half 



