564 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



appressed , flowers minute, membranaceous, rather distant on the rachis ; lower 

 palca obtuse, 3-nerved. (Poa conferta, AY/.) — River-banks, Florida to South 

 Carolina. Aug. and Sept. — I'anicle whitish. Spikelets 1"- Ij" long. 

 * * * Culms simjjie, erect, shorter than the large and spreading panicle. 



6. E. tenuis, Gray. "Panicle virgately elongated (l°-2^° long), very 

 loose, the spreading branches bearded in some of the lower axils, their remote 

 divisions and long diverging pedicels capillary ; spikelets 2-6- (sometimes 7 - 

 12-) flowered, pale or greenish; glumes lanceolate or awl-shapcd, very acute 

 (lj"-2" long), membranaceous, as are the oblong-lanceolate acute flowers; 

 lower palea distinctly 3-nerved ; the upper, ciliate-scabrous." Gtay. (Poa te- 

 nuis. Ell.) — Greenville, South Carolina, Elliott; North Carolina, Curtis. Aug. 

 and Sept. IJ. 1 — Leaves (1^° - 2° long) and sheaths smooth or hairy. 



7. E. capillaris, Nees. Panicle widely expanding, the lower axils mostly 

 bearded ; spikelets very small (1" - 1^" long), 2 - 4-flowered, mostly purple, on 

 long diverging capillary pedicels ; glumes and flowers ovate, acute ; lower palea 

 obscurely 3-nerved. (Poa, £. P. hirsuta, Michx.) — Dry uncultivated fields, 

 Florida, and northward. Aug. and Sept. — Leaves and sheaths smooth or 

 hairy. Panicle I ° - 2° long. 



8. E. nitida. Panicle (l|^°-3° long) reclining, the bristle-like or capil- 

 lary branches erect-spreading, naked in the axils ; spikelets linear, flat (3"-4" 

 long), 8 — 12-flowered, on erect-spreading pedicels l'-2' long; lower palea acute, 

 3-nerved, nearly smooth on the keel ; leaves and sheaths very smooth and shin- 

 ing. (Poa nitida. Ell.) — Low grassy places along the coast, West Florida to 

 South Carolina. Aug. and Sept. IJ. — Leaves narrowly linear, longer than 

 the short (6' -9' high) culm. 



9. E. pectinaeea, Gray. Panicle erect, widely spreading, or the rather 

 rigid and hairy branches at length reflexed ; spikelets purple, flat, about 8-flow- 

 ered, shorter than the erect or slightly spreading pedicels ; lower palea ovate, 

 acute, strongly 3-ncrved, rough-keeled. (Poa pectinaeea, Michx. P. hirsuta. 

 Ell., ij-c, not of Michx.) — Dry sterile soil, Florida, and northward. Aug. and 

 Sept. — Panicle 1 ° - 1 J° long. Leaves and sheaths mostly clothed with long 

 soft hairs. 



Var. refracta. Smooth throughout, or the sheaths of the short and rigid 

 leaves bearded at the throat ; panicle (6'- 12' long) with the branches reflexed ; 

 spikelets sessile or nearly so, 1 5 - 20-flowered ; lower palea faintly 3-nerved. 

 (Poa refracta. Ell.) — Damp soil, Florida to North Carolina. — Spikelets about 

 5" long. 



33. DACTTLIS, L. Orchard-Gkass. 



Perennial grasses, with simple culms, keeled leaves, and 2 - 7-flowercd spikelets 

 crowded in a 1 -sided glomerate panicle. Glumes and lower palea herbaceous, 

 keeled, awn-pointed, rough-ciliate on the keel, the latter 5-nerved. Stamens 3. 

 Grain free. 



1 . D. glomerata, L. — Near Chai-leston, Elliott, and northward. Intro- 

 duced. May and June. — Culms 2° -3° high. Leaves and sheaths scabrous. 



