S50 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



The Meadow Foxtail (A. pi-atcnsis, Z.), a taller species (2°-3°high), 

 with acute glumes, is scarcely spontaneous at the South. The same observation 

 applies to the Timothy or Herd's-gkass (Phleum pratense, L.), which differs 

 from Alopecurus in having two paleae and awned glumes. 



5. SPOEOBOLUS, Brown. Drop-seed Grass. 



Tough wiry and tufted or creeping perennial grasses, with narrow leaves, and 

 1-flowered awnless spikelets, disposed in open, or crowded in spiked panicles. 

 Glumes 2, membranaceous, unequal, the lower one shorter. PaleiE 2, mostly 

 longer than the glumes, and of the same texture. Stamens 3. Styles 2. Grain 

 oval or globose, loose in the thin membranaceous pericax'p, deciduous. Panicles 

 exserted. 



* Panicles open. 



1. S. junceUS, Kunth. (Wire-Gkass.) Panicle narrow, the short and 

 spreading branches whorled ; spikelets on one side of the branches, short-stalked ; 

 glumes smooth, the upper one acute, 2-3 times longer than the lower, and about 

 equal to the obtuse paleae ; culms Cl° - 2° high) erect ; leaves chiefly radical, fili- 

 form and elongated, involute, thore of the culm short and remote. (Agrostis 

 juncea, Michx.) — Dry pine barrens, common. April and May, and often in 

 October. 



2. S. Ploridanus, n. sp. Panicle diffuse, large; spikelets (purplish) on 

 long hair-like stalks ; glumes acute, the lower one barely shorter than the obtuse 

 paleae, the upper one a third longer ; leaves rather rigid, flat, pungent, very rough 

 on the edges. — Low pine barrens. Middle and West Florida. September. — 

 Culm 2°-4° high. Leaves 10-2° long. Panicle 1°-1|^° long. 



* * Panicles spiked. 



3. S. Indious, Brown. Culms erect; panicle elongated, linear; leaves 

 long, flat ; palese twice as long as the glumes, the upper one truncated. (Agrostis 

 Indica, L.) — Waste places, Florida to North Carolina, May - Sept. — Culms 

 2° -3° high. Leaves with bristle-like summits. Panicle 6' -18' long, turning 

 blackish. Spikelets crowded on the short appressed branches. 



4. S. Virginicus, Kunth. Culms creepinfr, short-jointed, the short and 

 mostly clubtorcd branches erect; leaves 2-rankcd, soon convolute, short and 

 rigid ; panicle small, lanceolate ; glumes nearly equal, acute, rather longer than 

 the palea!. (Agrostis Virginica, L.) — Saline marshes and banks along the 

 coast, Florida to North Carolina. July and Aug. — Flowering stems 6' -12' 

 high. Leaves 2' -4' long. Panicle l'-2' long, pale or purple. 



6. VILFA, Adans. Rush-Grass. 



Panicles contracted or spiked, more or less included in the sheaths of the leaves. 

 Grain oblong or linear, adherent to the closely investing pericarp. Othei-wise as 

 in Sporobolus. 



1. V. aspera, Beauv. Perennial; culms tall and slender; leaves elon- 

 gated, rough above, bristle-like at the summit; panicles partly included in the 



