GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 551 



upper sheaths ; palese rough-hairy, unequal, awl-pointed, 2-3 times as long as 

 the rough-keeled glumes and linear grain. (Agrostis aspera, Michx. A. clan- 

 destina, Spreng.) Dry sandy soil, Florida, and northward. July and Aug. 

 Culms 2 - 3 high. Sheaths hairy at the throat. 



2. V. vaginsefiora, Torr. Annual; culms low, clustered, bearing con- 

 cealed panicles at every joint, the terminal one partly exserted ; leaves short, 

 smoothish ; paleae ovate, smooth, one third longer than the smooth glumes and 

 oval grain. (Agrostis Virginica, Muhl. Crypsis Virginica, Nutt.) Dry bar- 

 ren soil, North Carolina, and northward. September. Culms 6' -12' high. 



Leaves 2' - 4' long. 







7. AGROSTIS, L. BENT-GRASS. 



Tufted usually tender grasses, with flat and narrow leaves ; the small 1 -flowered 

 spikclets racemose on the hair-like clustered branches of the open panicle, on 

 thickened pedicels. Glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the paleae. Paleae 2, 

 the lower one commonly awned on the back, 3 - 5-nervcd, the upper 2-nerved, 

 occasionally minute or wanting. Stamens 1-3. Styles or stigmas 2. Grain 

 free. 



1. TRICHODIUM. Upper palea minute or wanting, the lower awnless, shorter 

 than the unequal acute rough-keeled glumes. 



1. A. elata, Trin. Culms stout, erect ; leaves flat (l"-2" wide) ; branches 

 of the panicle flower-bearing above the middle. (A. dispar, Michx.?) Swamps, 

 North Carolina, Curtis. September. 1J. Culms 2 -3 high. Panicles large 

 and diffuse. 



2. A. perennans, Gray. Culms slender, decumbent at the base ; leaves 

 flat (I"- 2" wide); branches of the panicle short, flower-bearing from below 

 the middle ; spikelcts whitish. (T. perennans, Ell.) Swamps and river-banks, 

 Florida, and northward. July and Aug. }J. Culms l-2 high. 



3. A. SCabra, Willd. Culms slender, erect ; leaves short ; branches of the 

 panicle long, hair-like, hispid, bearing the purple spikelets near their summits. 

 (T. laxiflorum, Ell.) Sterile soil, Florida, and northward. June and July. 

 () Panicle usually as long as the culm. 



2. AGROSTIS PROPER. Upper palea manifest : the lower commonly awned on 



the back. 



4. A. alba, L. Culms ascending from a creeping base ; panicle spreading 

 in flower, contracted in fruit; glumes (whitish) nearly equal, rough-keeled; pa- 

 leae hairy at the base, the lower twice as long as the upper one, awnless or short- 

 awned. Damp soil, Florida, and northward. Introduced. Culms l-3 

 long. 



5. A. rupestris, All. Culms slender, erect ; panicle small, oblong, with 

 erect .smooth branches ; glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, rough-keeled ; lower 

 palea one third shorter than the glumes, short-awned below the middle, the upper 

 one minute. High mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July. 

 Culms 1 high. 



