GRAMINK.K. (GRASS FAMILY.) GOO 



tipped with a short bristle. — Meadows, commonly cultivated for hay. (Nat. 

 from En.) 



2. P. alpinum, L. Low; spike ovqte-dblong ; glumes strongly ciliate on 

 the hack, tipped with a rough awn about their own length. — Alpine tops of the 

 White Mountains, New Hampshire, and high northward. (Eu.) 



5. CRYPSIS, Ait. Crypsis. (El. 7.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in clusters which are crowded in a dense head or short 

 spike hracted by the uppermost leaves. Glumes, palets, &c. as in the next 

 genus, or rather thinner. — Low and spreading tufted annuals, natives of the 

 East ; with short leaves, the sheaths of the upper spathaceous. (Name, Kpvyjns, 

 concealment, the spikes at first partly hidden by the subtending sheaths.) 



1. C. scuffiNOiDES, Lam. Leaves rather rigid, tapering to a sharp point; 

 heads or spikes oblong, 7" -20" long, thick. (C. Virginica, Nutt., excl. syn.) 



— Waste places, streets of Philadelphia and vicinity, also of Wilmington, Dela- 

 ware : becoming very common. (Nat. from Eu.) 



6. VILFA, Adans., Beauv. Eush-Grass. (PL 7.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in a contracted or spiked panicle. Glumes 1 -nerved or 

 nerveless, not awned or pointed, the lower smaller. Flower nearly sessile in 

 the glumes. Palets 2, much alike, of the same texture as the glumes (mera- 

 branaceo-chartaceous) and usually longer than they, naked, awnless and mostly 

 pointless; the lower 1-nerved (rarely somewhat 3-nerved). Stamens chiefly 3. 

 Stigmas simply feathery. Grain (caryopsis) oblong or cylindrical, deciduous. 



— Culms wiry or rigid. Leaves involute, usually bearded at the throat ; their 

 sheaths often enclosing the panicles. (Name unexplained.) 



1. V. aspera, Beauv. Root perennial ; culms tufted (2° -4° high) ; lowest 

 leaves very long, rigid, rough on the edges, tapering to a long involute and 

 threadlike point ; the upper short, involute ; sheaths partly or at first wholly 

 enclosing the contracted panicle ; palets much longer than the unequal glumes ; 

 grain oval or oblong. (Agrostis aspera, Michx. A. clandestina & A. involuta, 

 Muhl. A. longifolia, Torr.) — Sandy fields and dry hills, especially southward. 

 Sept. — Spikelets 2" - 3" long. Palets rough above, smooth or hairy below, of 

 greatly varying proportions ; the upper one tapering upwards, acute, and one 

 half to twice longer than the lower, or else obtuse and equalled or even con- 

 siderably exceeded by the lower ! 



2. V. vaginaefldra, Torr. Root annual; culms slender (6' -12' high), 

 ascending; leaves involute-awl-shapcd (1'- 4' long); panicles simple and 

 spiked, the lateral and often the terminal concealed in the sheaths ; palets some- 

 what equal, acute, about the length of the nearly equal glumes; only one third longer 

 than the linear grain. (Agrostis Virginica, Muhl, not of L.) — Barren and 

 sandy dry fields : common, especially southward. Sept. 



3. V. CUSpidata, Torr. Root perennial ; culms and leaves more slender 

 than in the preceding ; panicle exserted, very simple and narrow ; spikelets 

 smaller, the glumes verg acute, and the loiver palet cuspidate. — Borders of Maine 

 (on the St. John's River, G. L. Goodale), and northwestward. 



39 



