GBAMlKRffl. (GRASS FAMILY.) 685 



all over; awn only one third the length of the lanee-oblong flower; lower palet 

 7-9-nerved, much longer and larger than the upper; culm slender (l£°-3° 

 high); leaves and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy. (B. ciliatus, Mukl. 

 B. piirgans, Tarr. Fl. N. Y.) — Dry ground: common northward. June, July. 

 — This is in the herbarium of Linnaeus under the name of B. ciliatus, but is 

 Dot the plant he described ; thence; has arisen much confusion. 



§2. N< '! I KI >< >\ORUS, Beam., Fries. Lower palet somewhat convex, but keeled 

 on the bud and laterally more or less compressed, at least above: flowers soon 

 separating from each other: lower glume l-nerved, the upper 3-nerved, or with an 

 obscure additional pair. 



* Perennial, tall (3° -5° high) : flowers oblong or lanceolate. 



5. B. ciliatus, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches 

 at length divergent, drooping ; spikelcts 7 - 12-flowered ; lower palet tipped with 

 an awn half to three fourths its length, silky with appressed hairs near the 

 margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish on the back 

 (B. Canadensis, Michx. B. pubescens, Muhl.) ; — or, in var. purgans (B. 

 purgans, L. '.), clothed all over with short and fine appressed hairs. — River- 

 banks and moist woodlands : common. July, Aug. — Culm and large leaves 

 (.{'' - 6" wide) smooth or somewhat hairy ; the sheaths in the larger forms often 

 hairy or densely downy near the top. Variable, comprising several forms, in- 

 cluding both the Linmean species ; for which the present name is preferable to 

 the inapplicable purgans, taken from Feuillec's South American species. 



6. B. Asper, L. Culm slender and panicle smaller ; spikelets 5 - 9-flowcrcd ; 

 lower palet linear-lanceolate, scarcely keeled, hairy near the margins, rather 

 longer than the awn ; sheaths and lower leaves hairy or downy. — Bethel, 

 Maine, in fields along the river-bank, W. Boott. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Annual or biennial (10' -30' high) : floivers slender. 



7. B. stkrilis, L. Panicle open; spikelets of 5-9 rather distant and 7- 

 nerved roughish linear-awl-shaped long-awned flowers (awn 1' long) ; leaves 

 rather downy. — "Waste places and river-banks, E. Massachusetts, New York, 

 and Pennsylvania : rare. June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



39. UNIOLA, L. Spike-Grass. (PI. 11.) 



Spikelets closely many-flowered, very flat and 2-edged ; one or more of the 

 lowest flowers sterile (neutral) and consisting of a single palet. Glumes lance- 

 olate, compressed-keeled. Lower palet coriaceo-membranaceous, strongly lat- 

 erally compressed and keeled, striate-nerved, usually acute or pointed, entire, 

 enclosing the much smaller compressed 2-keeled upper one and the free laterally 

 flattened smooth grain. Stamen 1 (or in U. paniculata 3). — Upright smooth 

 perennials, growing in tufts from strong creeping rootstocks, with broad leaves 

 and lane spikelets in an open or spiked panicle. (Ancient name of some plant, 

 a diminutive of unio, unity.) 



* Spikelets larae (£'-2' long), ovate or oblong, 9 - 30-flowered : panicle open. 



1. U. paniculata, L. Leaves narrow, when dry convolute ; spikelets ovate, 

 short-pedicelled : flowers glabrous, bluntish, several of the lower sterile ; the fcr- 



