624 GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



1. T. seslerioides, Torr. (Tall Red-top.) Perennial ; culm upright 

 (3° -5° high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves ; panicle large and compound, 

 the rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below ; spikelets very numerous, 

 5-7-flowered, shining, purple (4" long) ; the flowers hairy toward the base. 

 (Poa flava, L. ! P. seslerioides, Michi. P. quinque'fida, Pursh. Windsoria, 

 poaeformis, Nutt. Uralepis ciiprea, Kunth.) — Dry or sandy fields, S. New York 

 to Illinois and southward. Aug. — A showy grass, with the spreading panicle 

 sometimes 1° wide. Points of the lower palet almost equal, scarcely exceeding 

 the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. 



§ 2. TRIPLASIS, Beauv. (Diplocea, Raf. Uralepis, Nittt.) Glumes much 

 shorter than the somewhat remote flowers : both palets strongly fringe-bearded ; the 

 lower 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the trun- 

 cate or awn-pointed divisions. 



2. T. purpurea, Gray. (Sand-Grass.) Culms many in a tuft from the 

 same annual root, ascending (6' -12' high), with numerous bearded joints; 

 leaves involute-awl-shaped, mostly short ; panicles very simple, bearing few 2 - 

 5-flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually exserted, the axillary ones included 

 in the commonly hairy sheaths ; awn much shorter than the palet, seldom exceed- 

 ing its eroded-truncate or obtuse lateral lobes. (Aira purpurea, Walt. Diplocea 

 barbata, Raf. Uralepis purpurea and U. aristulata, Nutt. ) — In sand, Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia along the coast, and southward : also Lake Erie, near 

 Buffalo, G. W. Clinton. Aug., Sept. — Plant acid to the taste. 



(T. coRNtTA (Uralepis cornuta, Ell., and Triplasis Americana, Beauv.!) 



may perhaps extend north to the borders of Virginia.) 

 ft 



26. GRAPHEPHORUM, Desv. <Dupontia,R. Br.) (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 5-flowered, rather terete. Glumes membranaceous, mostly nearly 

 equalling the remote flowers. A cluster of villous hairs at the base of each 

 flower. Palets thin and membranaceous or scarious ; the lower one convex, 

 scarcely keeled, faintly nerved, entire, pointless and awnless. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas plumose. Ovary glabrous. — Perennial and northern or arctic grasses, 

 with linear flat leaves, their sheaths closed at the base, the spikelets in a loose 

 panicle. (Genus allied to the Aveneffi, but awnless ; named from ypacpis, a pen- 

 cil, and (pepw, to bear, from the tufts of hair at the base of the flowers.) 



1. G. melicoides, Beauv. Culm 1°- 2° high; leaves roughish ; panicle 

 open; glumes unequal, lanceolate, their midrib and the pedicels rough; joints 

 of the rhachis unilaterally bearded between the 2-4 flowers. Grand Detour, 

 Upper Michigan, Prof. Porter, Riviere du Loup, E. Canada, Dr. Pickering, 

 and northward : rare. — Var. major, Gray (Dupontia Cooleyi, of former ed.), 

 is a luxuriant form, 2° -3° high, with ampler panicle; found on the borders 

 of a swamp, Washington, Macomb County, Michigan, by Dr. Cooley. Aug. 



27. DIAERHENA, Raf. Diarrhena. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost 

 flowers sterile. Glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous ; the 

 lower one much smaller. Lower palet ovate, convex on the back, rigidly cori- 



