(GRASS FAMILY.) 555 



long as the middle one. Dry pine barrens, Florida to North Carolina. July 

 and Aug. Lower palea spotted with purple. 



2. A. purpurascens, Poir. Culms (l-2 high) slender, sparingly 

 branched ; sheaths smooth ; glumes sometimes nearly equal, purple ; lower 

 palea (3" long) -J as long as the nearly equal awns. Dry soil, Florida, 

 and northward. Aug. Panicle slender, 1 long, with the branches appressed. 



* * Glumes equal, or the upper one longer. 



3. A. gracilis, Ell. Culms much branched at the base, very slender; 

 leaves flat ; panicle very narrow, with distant appressed branches ; middle awn 

 rather longer than the rough and spotted lower palea, the lateral ones much 

 shorter ; glumes nearly equal. Dry gravelly soil, Florida to North Carolina. 

 Aug. Culms (with the panicle) 6' - 12' high. Spikelets purple. 



4. A. virgata, Trin. Culms (2 -3 high) branched near the base; leaves 

 flat, rigid; panicles (1 long) loose; glumes nearly equal; middle awn spread- 

 ing, twice as long as the erect lateral ones, and four times the length of the short 

 (2" long) lower palea, Diy soil, Florida to North Carolina. 



Var? palustris. Every way larger (3 -5 high), with the panicle l- 

 2 long, and the straight awns nearly equal. Margins of pine-barren ponds, 

 West Florida. Aug. and Sept. 



5. A. Stricta, Michx. Culms (2 -3 high) tufted, simple, straight; leaves 

 chiefly radical, filiform, involute, rigid, hairy at the base; panicle (1 long) 

 spiked ; lateral awns as long as the lower palea, the middle one one third 

 longer. Dry sandy ridges in the pine barrens, very common. June and July. 



6. A. dichotoma, Michx. Culms low, fork-branched ; leaves filiform, 

 erect; panicle (2' -3' long) spiked; glumes purple, longer than the paleae and 

 the very short and erect lateral awns, the middle awn shorter than the palea), 

 spreading. Dry soil in the upper districts. Aug. and Sept. Culms 6'- 12' 

 high. 



7. A. spiciformis, Ell. Culms simple, rigid, erect (l-l high); 

 leaves rigid, erect, convolute, smooth ; panicle spiked ; glumes much shorter 

 than the long (!') very slender paleae, the upper one twice as long as the 

 lower ; awns nearly equal, widely spreading, the middle one as long as the 

 paleai. Low pine barrens, Florida to South Carolina. Aug. and Sept. 

 Panicles 2' - 4' long, at length twisted. 



8. A. oligantha, Michx. Culms (l-2 high) branched, slender; leaves 

 filiform, convolute ; spikelets scattered, single or by pairs, in a simple terminal 

 raceme ; glumes nearly equal, longer than the paleae ; middle awn very long 

 (2'), rather longer than the lateral ones, and 2-3 times the length of the 

 palese. South Carolina or Georgia, Nuttall. Sept. 



9. A. tuberculosa, Nutt. Culms rigid, branching (l-l high) ; leaves 

 flat; glumes nearly equal, longer than the paleae, bristle-awned ; awns (2' long) 

 equal, jointed with the paleae, twisted below, then widely spreading, several times 

 longer than the palea. Dry ridges, in the middle districts of Georgia. Sept. 

 Panicle simple. 



