THE RUSH GRASSES. 37 



5. VILFA. Eusli Grass. 



Spikelets in a contracted or spike-like panicle, one- 

 flowered ; glumes keel-shaped, the lower one smaller ; 

 pales awnless, nearly equal, generally longer than the 

 glumes ; stigmas feathery, seed or grain oblong. 



ROUGH-LEAVED VILFA, RUSH GRASS ( Vilfa aspera), 

 grows from two to four feet high on sandy soils and 

 old fields. Lower leaves long, rigid, and rough on the 

 edges, tapering to a long twisted point; sheaths partly 

 enclosing the panicle ; seed oval, oblong. Flowers in 

 September. Perennial. Of no agricultural value. 



HIDDEN FLOWERED VILFA ( Vilfa vaginceflora) is an 

 annual, with many slender stems, six to twelve inches 

 long, leaves awl-shaped, pales nearly equal, and about 

 the length of the nearly equal glumes. This grass is 

 common on barren, sandy soils, in most parts of the 

 country from New England to Illinois, and especially 

 so at the South. Of no known agricultural value. 



6. SPOROBOLUS. Drop-seed Grass. 



Spikelets generally one, sometimes two flowered, in 

 a contracted or open panicle. Seed loose when ripe, 

 whence the name of the genus, from two Greek words, 

 signifying to cast forth. 



RUSH-LIKE DROP SEED (Sporobolus junceus) is a pe- 

 rennial grass, with long, folding, narrow, rigid leaves, 

 with a loose panicle, flowering in August, spikelets 

 long and shining. Prairies Wisconsin, and at the 

 South. 



STRONG-SCENTED VILFA (Sporobolus heterolepis). 

 Leaves twisting, thread-like, rigid, the lowest as long 

 as the stem, which is usually from one to two feet high; 

 panicle pyramidal, loose, open ; glumes very unequal ; 



