156 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Brachyelytrum erectum (Schreb.) Beauv. (fig. 90), found in 

 rich rocky woods in the northeastern quarter of the United States, is 

 of no economic importance. It has been known also as B. aristatum 

 Beauv. 



74. MILIUM L. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulating above the glumes; glumes 

 equal, obtuse, membranaceous, rounded on the back; lemma a little 

 shorter than the glumes, obtuse, awnless, obscurely nerved, rounded 

 on the back, dorsally compressed, in fruit becoming indurate, smooth, 

 and shining, the margins inclosing the lemma, as in Panicum. 



Moderately tall grasses with flat blades and open panicloe. Spe- 

 cies about six, in- the cooler parts of Eurasia, one of which is found 

 also in northeastern North America. 



Type species: Milium effusum L. 



Milium L., Sp. PI. 61, 1753; Gen. PI., ed. 5, 30. 1754. Two species are de- 

 scribed, M. effusum and M. confertum. The first species is chosen as the type 

 as it was the one best known to Linnaeus, being described in his flora of Sweden. 

 The second species is now reduced to a variety of M. effusum. Milium is an 

 ancient Latin name for the common millet of Europe (Panicum miliaceum L. ). 

 Linnaeus applied this name to the genus above described. 1 



Milium effusum L. (fig. 91) , millet grass, the only representative of 

 the genus in America, is a slender erect perennial 3 to 4 feet tall, 

 found in cool woods from Nova Scotia to Illinois. It is of no 

 economic importance. 



75. ORYZOPSIS Michx. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulating above the glumes; glumes 

 about equal, obtuse or acuminate; lemma indurate, usually about as 

 long as the glumes, broad, oval or oblong, nearly terete, usually 

 pubescent, with a short, blunt, oblique callus, and a short, deciduous, 

 sometimes bent and twisted awn ; palea inclosed by the edges of the 

 lemma. 



Perennial, mostly low grasses, with flat or often involute blades 

 and terminal narrow or open panicles. Species about 20, in the north 

 temperate regions of both hemispheres; 13 species in the United 

 States. 



Type species: Oryzopsis asperifolia Michx. (fig. 92). 



Oryzopsis Michx., Fl. Bor. Amer. 1 : 51. 1803. A single species described. 



Dilepyrum Raf., Med. Repos. 5: 351. 1808. Rafinesque here announces a new 

 work and gives the names of several proposed new genera and species. One of 

 these is "Dilepyrum, the Orizopsis of do [Michaux]." The type, then, is Ory- 

 zopsis asperifolia Michx. 



Piptatherum Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 17. pi. 5, f. 10. 1812. Beauvpis mentions 

 five species and figures two, P. coerulescens and P. punctatum. Milium coerules- 

 cens, the basis of the first species, is chosen as the type. 



Eriocoma Nutt., Gen. PI. 1: 40. 1818. The type is E. cuspidata Nutt., the 

 only species described. This is the same as Oryzopsis liymenoides. 



1 For a discussion of Milium and Panicum, see Hitchcock and Chase, Contr. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 15: 11. 1910. 



