18 



qual, awnless ; flowering glume membranaceous, compressed, cari- 

 nate, awnless ; palet nearly equaling its glume, two-keeled. 



1. S. cynosuroides, Willd. Common. New England to the Rocky 



Mountains. 

 In the "Western States this species is very common, often forming 

 a large part of the grass of the sloughs and wet marshes of that 

 region. It is coarse and stout, growing from 3 to 6 feet high, with 

 leaves 2 to 3 feet long. It is frequently cut for hay, but is a very 

 coarse inferior article, unless cut when very young. It gives good 

 feed very early in the spring, but soon becomes so coarse as to be 

 rejected hy cattle when anything better is procurable. In the bot- 

 tom lands of the Mississippi, where it is abundant, it. has been 

 manufactured into paper. 



2. S. gracilis, Trin. Oregon to Dakota, south to Texas and Arizona. 



3. S. juncea, Willd. Marsh-grass, Salt-grass, flush-grass. 



This grass forms a large portion of the salt, marshes near the 

 Atlantic sea-coast. It makes an inferior hay, called salt-hay, much 

 used also as a packing material. 



4. S. polystachya, Willd. Salt Heed-grass. Near the coast. 

 A tall, coarse grass, much like the S. cynosuroides. 



5. S. stricta, Roth. Marshes near the coast. 



S. stricta, var. alterniflora, Gr. Near the coast. 

 S. stricta, var. glabra, Or. Near the coast. 



Stenotaphrcsi, Trin. 



Spikelets two-flowered, the terminal one perfect and fertile, the 

 lower one male or imperfect, the lowest empty glume short and 

 obtuse, the second the largest, the two flowering glumes rather 

 smaller, palets of both flowers similar in texture. The spikelets 

 are imbedded, singly or two or three together, in alternate excava- 

 tions of the broad flattened rhachis of a spike-like panicle. 



1. S. Americanum, Schkr. Southern States, near the coast. 



Phaeus, Linn. 



Flowers monoecious in a terminal panicle. Spikelets in pairs, 

 unequal, the smaller one pediceled, its flowering glume membrana- 

 ceous and with 6 stamens ; the larger one sessile, its flowering glume 



