GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 623 



1. IS. fxDiCA, Gffirtn. (Dog's-tail or Wire Grass.) Culms ascending, 

 flattened; spikes 2-5 (about 2' long, greenish). — Yards, &c., chiefly south- 

 ward. (Nat. from Ind. ?) 



2 4. LEPTOCHLOA, Beauv. (Oxydenia, Nutt.) (PI. 9.) 



Spikelets 3 - many-flowered (the uppermost flower imperfect), loosely spiked 

 on one side of a long filiform rhachis : the spikes racemed. Glumes membra- 

 naceous, keeled, often awl-pointed, the upper one somewhat larger. Lower 

 palet 3-nerved, with the lateral nerves next the ciliate or hairy margins awn- 

 less, or bristle-awned at the entire or 2-toothed tip, larger than the upper. 

 Stamens 2 or 3. Seed sometimes loose in the pericarp. — Ours annuals. 

 Leaves flat. (Name composed of Xenros, slender, and x^ oa » grass, from the 

 long attenuated spikes.) 



§ 1. LEPTOCHLOA proper. Lower palet aimless or simply aivned. 



1. L. mucron&ta, Kunth. Sheaths hairy; spikes numerous (20-40, 

 2' -4' in length), in a long panicle-like raceme; spikelets small; glumes more 

 or less mucronate, nearly equalling or exceeding the 3-4 awnless flowers. — * 

 Fields, Virginia to Illinois, and southward. August. 



§2. DIPLACHNE, Beauv. Lower palet bristle-awned from the 2-toothed apex; 

 the marginal nerves often excurrent into lateral teeth or points. 



2. L. fascicularis, Gray. Smooth ; leaves longer than the geniculate- 

 decumbent and branching culms, the upper sheathing the base of the crowded 

 panicle-like raceme, which is composed of many strict spikes (3' - 5' long) ; spike- 

 lets slightly pedicelled, 7 - 11 -flowered, much longer than the lanceolate glumes; 

 palets hairy-margined towards the base ; the lower one with 2 small lateral 

 teeth and a short awn in the cleft of the apex. (Festuca fascicularis, Lam. 

 F. polystachya, Michx. Diplachne fascicularis, Beauv., Torr.) — Brackish 

 meadows, from Rhode Island southward along the coast, and from Illinois 

 southward on the Mississippi. Aug. -Sept. — Makes a direct transition to the 

 next genus. 



25. TRIC USPIS, Beauv. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 3- 12-flowered, somewhat terete; the terminal flower abortive. 

 Glumes unequal. Rhachis of the spikelet bearded below each flower. Palets 

 membranaceoirs or somewhat chartaceous ; the lower much larger than the 2- 

 toothed upper one, convex, 2-3-toothed or cleft at the apex, conspicuously 

 hairy-bearded or villous on the 3 strong nerves, of which the lateral are mar- 

 ginal or nearly so and usually excurrent, as is the mid-nerve especially, into a 

 short cusp or awn. Stamens 3. Stigmas dark purple, plumose. Grain ob- 

 long, nearly gibbous. — Leaves taper-pointed : sheaths bearded at the throat. 

 Panicle simple or compound; the spikelets often racemose, purplish. (Name 

 from the Latin tricuspis, three-pointed, alluding to the lower palet.) 

 § 1. TRICUSPIS proper. ( Windsoria, Nutt.) Glumes shorter than the crowded 

 flowers : lower palet 3-cuspidate by the projection of the nerves, and usually with 

 intermediate membranaceous teeth ; the upper palet naked. 



