GRAMINEjE. (grass family.) G51 



64. ERIANTHUS, Michx. Woolly Beard-Grass. (PI. 14.) 



Spikelets spiked in pairs upon each joint of the slender rhachis; one of them 

 sessile, the other pcdieelled ; otherwise hoth alike ; with the lower flower neutral, 

 of one membranaceous palet ; the upper perfect, of 2 hyaline palets, which are 

 thinner and shorter than the nearly equal membranaceous glumes, the lower 

 palet awned from the tip. Stamens 1 -3. Grain free. — Tall and stout reeil-like 

 perennials, with the spikes crowded in a panicle, and clothed with long silky 

 hairs, especially in a tuft around the base of each spikelet (whence the name, 

 from ef>iov, wool, and avdos, flower). 



1. E. alopecuroides, Ell. Culm (4° -6° high) woolly-bearded at the 

 joints; panicle contracted ; the silky hairs longer than the spikelets, shorter than the 

 awn ; stamens 2. — Wet pine barrens, from New Jersey and Illinois southward : 

 rare. Sept., Oct. 



2. E. brevibarbis, Michx. Culm (2° -5° high), somewhat bearded at 

 the upper joints ; panicle rather open ; silky hairs shorter than the spikelets. — 

 Low grounds, Virginia and southward. 



65. ANDEOPOGON, L. Beard-Grass. (PI. 14.) 



Spikelets in pairs upon each joint of the slender rhachis, spiked or raeemed ; 

 one of them pedicelled and sterile, often a mere vestige ; the other sessile, with 

 the lower flower neutral and of a single palet ; the upper perfect and fertile, of 2 

 thin and hyaline palets shorter than the herbaceous or chartaceous glumes, the 

 lower awned from the tip. Stamens 1-3. Grain free. — Coarse, mostly rigid 

 perennials, mostly in sterile or sandy soil ; with lateral or terminal spikes com- 

 monly clustered or digitate ; the rhachis hairy or plumose-bearded, and often 

 the sterile or staminate flowers also (whence the name, composed of dvrjp, avhpos, 

 man, and Tru>ycoi>, beard). 

 * Spikes digitate, thickish, short-bearded, the sterile spikelet staminate: stamens 3. 



1 . A. furcatus, Muhl. Tall, 3° - 4° high, rigid, the naked summit of the 

 culm (and usually some lateral branches) terminated by 2 - 5 rigid spikes ; spike- 

 lets approximated, appressed ; hairs at the base of the fertile spikelet, on the 

 rhachis and on the stout pedicel of the awnless staminate spikelet short and 

 rather sparse ; awn of fertile flower long and bent ; leaves flat, roughish, the 

 lower ones long. — Common in dry sterile soil. Aug. - Oct. 



* * Spikes with slender often zigzag rhachis, silky -villous, 



*- Single and scattered along the branches, with the silky hairs shorter than the flowers : 



sterile spikelet conspicuous but mostly neutral; the fertile triandrous. 



2. A. SCOparius, Michx. Culms slender (l°-3° high), with numerous 

 paniculate branches ; lower sheaths and narrow leaves hairy ; spikes slender, 

 scattered, mostly peduncled (l'-2' long), very loose, often purplish, silky with 

 lax dull-white hairs ; sterile spikelet awn-pointed or awnless; the fertile about 

 half the length of its twisted or bent awn. — Dry ground. July - Sept. 



-•- •*- /» pairs or clustered ; the captious soft-silky hairs much longer than the flowers : 

 steiile spikelet a small neutral rudiment (in No. 3), or altogether ivanting on the 

 summit of the very plumose-fmiry pedicel : fertile flower monandrous, its awn 

 capillary : leaves narrow, the lower or their sheaths often rather hairy. 



