GRAMIKEJS. (GRASS FAMILY.) 611 



palcts. (Agr. & Vilfa serotina, Torr. V. tenera, TVi'n. Poa ? uniflora, MuhL 

 P. mode'sta, Tuckerm.) — Sandy wet places, Maine to New Jersey and Michigan* 

 Sejjt. — A very delicate grass ; the spikelets half a line long. 



8. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Gkass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, in an open panicle. Glumes somewhat equal, or the 

 lower rather longer, usually longer than the palets, pointless. Palets very thin, 

 pointless, naked; the lower 3 - 5-nerved, frequently awned on the hack; the 

 upper often minute or none. Stamens chiefly 3. Grain (caryopsis) free. — 

 Culms usually tufted, slender; root commonly perennial. (Name from dypos, 

 a field, the place of growth.) 



§ 1. TRICHODIUM, Michx. — Upper palet abortive, minute, or none. 



1. A. el&ta, Trin. Culms firm or stout (2° -3° high) ; leaves flat (1"- 2" 

 wide) ; upper ligules elongated (2" -3" long) ; spikelets crowded on the branches 

 of the spreading panicle above the middle (1^" long) ; lower palet awnless, slightly 

 shorter than the rather unequal glumes ; the upper wanting. (A. Schweinitzii, 

 Trin.? A. altissima, Tuckerm., excl. var. laxa. Trich. datum, Pursh.) — 

 Swamps, New Jersey and southward. October. 



2. A. per6nnans, Tuckerm. (Thin-Grass.) Culms slender, erect from 

 a decumbent base (l°-2° high) ; leaves flat (the upper 4'-6' long, l"-2"wide) ; 

 panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green ; the branches short, divided and 

 fiower-bearing from or below the middle; lower palet awnless (rarely short-awned), 

 shorter than the unequal glumes ; the upper minute or obsolete. (Cornucopia} 

 perennans, Walt. Trich. perennans, Ell. T. deciimbens, Michx. T. scabrum, 

 Muhl. Agr. anomala, Willd.) — Damp shaded places. July, Aug. — Spikelets, 

 &c. as in No. 3, into which it seems to vary. 



3. A. scabra, Willd. (Hair-Grass.) Culms very slender, erect (1°- 2° 

 high) ; leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper 1' -3' long, 

 less than 1" wide) ; panicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary 

 branches flower-bearing at and near the apex ; lower palet awydess or occasionally 

 short-awned on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute glumes ; the 

 upper minute or obsolete ; root biennial ? (A. laxiflora, Richard. A. Michauxii, 

 Trin. partly. Trich. laxiflorum, Michx. T. montanum, Torr.) — Exsiccated 

 places : common. June- Aug. — Remarkable for the long and divergent capil- 

 lary branches of the extremely loose panicle ; these are whorled, rough with 

 very minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 

 l'long. — A variety? from about the White Mountains, &c. (var. montana, 

 Tuckerm.), has a more or less exserted awn, thus differing from the T. monta- 

 num, Torr. (A. oredphila, Trin.), which is a dwarfed form, growing in tufts in 

 hollows of rocks, &c. 



4. A. cailina, L. (Brown Bent-Grass.) Culms 8' -2° high; root- 

 leaves involute-bi-istle-form, those of the culm flat and broader ; panicle loose ; 

 glumes slightly unequal, ovate-lanceolate, very acute ; palet exsertly awjied on 

 the back at or below the middle ; spikelets brownish or purplish, rarely pale or 

 greenish (1"-U" long). — Meadows, sparingly naturalized eastward. A 

 mountain form with shorter and more spreading panicle (A. Pickeringii 



