GENERA OF GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 183 
acute or short-awned, the first shorter, the second often ex- 
ceeding the lemma; lemma firm, keeled, the lateral nerves obscure, 
narrowed to a rather obtuse point; palea 2-nerved, keeled and flat- 
tened, the keel between or at one side of the nerves. 
Stout, erect, often tall perennials, with usually extensively creep- 
‘ing, firm, scaly rhizomes, long tough blades, and two to many ap- 
pressed or sometimes spreading spikes racemose on the main axis. 
Species about 14, all North American except two or three along the 
coast of Europe, Africa, and South America. 
Type species: Spartina schreberi Gmel. : 
Spartina Schreb.; Gmel., Syst. Nat. ed. 18. 2: 123. 1791. The genus was first 
described by Schreber in his Genera Plantarum,’ but no species was mentioned. 
Gmelin merely assigns a specific name to the description given by Schreber. 
Spartina schreberi is not recognized by Huropean botanists, but it doubt- 
less is the common European species, S. maritima (Curt.) Fernald (S. stricta 
Roth). 
Trachynotia Michx., Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 638. 1803. Type species 7. cyno- 
suroides. Michaux describes three species, 7. cynosuroides, T. polystachya, and 
T. juncea. The first species described is what is now called Spartina michaucxi- 
ana Hitche., but the synonym, Dactylis cynosuroides L., from which the specific 
name is taken, Shows that Michaux had misapplied the name. The second spe- 
cies, 7. polystachya, is Dactylis cynosuroides L., now ealled Spartina cynosu- 
roides (L.) Roth. Michaux remarks that this may be only a variety of the first 
species. It appears then that to Michaux the first species typifies the genus, 
and hence is selected here as the type species, 
Limnetis Pers., Syn. Pl. 1: 72. 1805. Four species are described, L. pungens, 
L. juncea, L. cynosuroides, and L. polystachya. The first species, which is the 
same as Spartina maritima, is selected as the type, as that is a native of Hurope 
and is indigenous from the standpoint of the author. The other three species 
are American. 
There are eight species in the United States. All but two are found 
on or near the coast. Spartina cynosuroides (.) Roth, a stout grass 
as much as 9 feet tall, is found along the Atlantic coast. The com- 
monest coastal species is S. patens (Ait.) Muhl. (including S. juncea 
Michx.), which covers vast areas of salt marsh from Newfoundland to 
Texas. This isa slender wiry species usually less than 3 feet tall, with 
only a few somewhat spreading spikes. Spartina alternifiora Loisel. 
and its two varieties, glabra (Muhl.) Fern. and pilosa (Merr.) Fern., 
also of the Atlantic coast, have stout stems and closely appressed 
spikes, forming a cylindric inflorescence. A somewhat local species, 
S. spartinae (Trin.) Merr., is found on the Texas coast. Another 
local species, S. foliosa Trin., is found on the coast of California. The 
only species without well-marked rhizomes is S. bakeri Merr., of the 
fresh-water marshes and low savannas of Florida and coastal Georgia. 
Two species are found in the interior of the United States. One, S. 
michauxiana Hitche. (fig. 109), is common in marshes and sloughs 
from New England to the Great Plains. A: second, 8. gracilis Trin., is 
found in alkaline grassland in the Western States. The first of these 
is used for thatching sheds and covering hay stacks. The leaves of 
1$chreb, Gen. Pl. 1: 43. 1789, 
