CALAMAGROSTIS. 



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1. Calamagrostis Epigejos, Eoth. Wood Smallreed. 



Root perennial, creeping ; stem erect, slender, but firm, 

 three to four feet high, rough with small ascending bristles, 

 often branched at the base; joints smooth; leaves long, 

 narrow, acuminate, nerved, underneath glaucous, and rough 

 at the edges ; sheaths smooth, striated ; ligule lanceolate, 

 many times divided, naked on both sides ; panicle erect, 

 rough, spreading, close before and after flowering ; spikelets 

 brownish, pointed, in clusters all on the same side, nodding ; 

 branches rough, situated in clusters at certain distances 

 along the rachis ; outer glumes nearly equal, lanceolate, 

 acute, nerved, rough on the keel, without lateral ribs, 

 roughish towards the point ; flowering glume much shorter 

 than the outer ones, white, membranaceous, inserted in a 

 woolly tuft longer than itself, awned on the back ; awn long, 

 jointed, reaching as far as the woolly hairs ; palea narrow, 

 membranaceous, acute, very short. 



When in flower the pani- 

 cles of this reed are very 

 elegant ; growing on tall 

 stems, above a yard in 

 height, the panicle itself is 

 generally a span long, the 

 florets are brown and glossy, 

 and so numerous as to form 

 dense masses upon the al- 

 ternate compound branches ; 

 the stems are leafy to the 

 very foot of the panicle, and 

 the leaves, being long and 

 ribbon-like, arch and droop 

 in every variety of curve. 

 The awn is scarcely distin- 

 guishable from the long 



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