G08 . GRAMINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



2. ZIZANIA, Gronov. Water or Indian Rice. (PI. 7.) 



Flowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate both in 1-flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary and forming a little 

 cup. Palets herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile, the lower 

 one tipped with a straight awn in the fertile spikelets. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. — Large, often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with the 

 club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Zi£avtov, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aquatica, L. (Indian Rice. Water Oats.) Annual; lower 

 branches of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the upper erect, pis- 

 tillate ; pedicels strongly club-shaped ; lower palet long-awned, rough ; styles dis- 

 tinct ; grain linear, slender. (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) — Swampy borders of 

 streams and in shallow water : common, especially northwestward. Aug. — • 

 Culms 3° - 9° high. Leaves flat, 2° - 3° long, linear-lanceolate. Grain 6" long ; 

 largely gathered for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. miliacea, Michx. Perennial ; panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate 

 and pistillate flowers intermixed ; awns short ; styles united ; grain ovate. Penn. ? 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. — Leaves involute. 



3. ALOPECURUS, L. Foxtail Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palet, which 

 is awned on the back below the middle: upper palet wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 jStyles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. — Clusters contracted into 

 a cylindrical and soft dense spike. Root perennial. (Name from akconr)f-,fox, 

 and ovpd, tail, the popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. pratensis, L. (Meadow Foxtail.) Culm upright, smooth (2° 

 high) ; palet equalling the acute glumes; awn exserted more than half its length, 

 twisted; the upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. — Meadows and 

 pastures, eastward. May. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. A. geniculatus, L. (Floating F.) Culm ascending, bent at the 

 lower joints ; palet rather shorter than the obtuse glumes, the awn from near its base 

 and projecting half its length beyond it; anthers linear ; the upper leaf as long as 

 its sheath. — Moist meadows, eastward. June- Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. A. aristulatUS, Michx. (Wild F.) Glaucous; culm decumbent 

 below, at length bent and ascending ; palet rather longer than the obtuse glumes, 

 scarcely exceeded by the awn which rises from just below its middle ; anthers 

 oblong. (A. subaristatus, Pers.) — In water and wet places : common. June- 

 Aug. Spike more slender and paler than in the last. (Eu.) 



4. PHLEUM, L. Cat's-tail Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Palets both present, shorter than the mucronate or awned glumes ; the lower 

 one truncate, usually awnless. Styles distinct. Otherwise much as in Alope- 

 curus. — Perennials. Spike very dense, harsh. (An ancient Greek name.) 



1. P. pkatexse, L. (Timothy. IIekd's-Grass in New England and 

 New York.) Tall; spike cylindrical, elongated; glumes ciliate on the back, 



