GRASS FAMILY. 475 



alternate and sheathing on the Maize-like stem ; spikelets 3-4-flowered, 

 all perfect ; glume bifid ; axes of the spikelets naked, but the flowers 

 furnished with long hairs. S. Eu. Seldom flowers in N. States. 



+- -i- Long plumose awns from the empty glumes ; spikelets 1-flowered. 



Sflpa penndta, Linn. Feather Grass. Plant 2°-3° high, bearing long, 

 slender, often drooping, feather-like panicles ; awns twisted, 8-10 times 

 longer than the glumes. Eu. Sometimes used for bouquets. 



-i- -i- -i- Spikes not silky-hairy nor plumose. 



Phalaria arundinacea, Linn. Reed Canary Grass (the striped 

 variety is the familiar Ribbon Grass of country gardens). Bogs and low 

 grounds ; 2°-4° high, with flat leaves nearly £' wide, flowering in early 

 summer, in a pretty, dense, contracted panicle, but open when the blos- 

 soms expand ; the ovate outer whitish glumes longer and much thinner 

 than the blunt coriaceous flowering glumes ; a hairy rudiment or append- 

 age at the base of each of the latter. 



VIE. Wild Grasses, which are distinguished for tall reed-like growth. 



* Stems pithy, not hollow. 



Tripsacum dactyloldes, Linn. Gama Grass, Sesame Grass. Moist 

 soil, Conn., S.; nutritious, but coarse ; leaves almost as large as those of 

 Indian corn ; spike (the upper part staminate, the lower pistillate) nar- 

 row, composed of a row of joints which break apart at maturity ; the fer- 

 tile cylindrical, the externally cartilaginous spikelets immersed in the 

 rhachis, the sterile part thinner and flat. Sometimes used for fodder S. 



* * Stems hollow at maturity. 



■*- Flowers monoecious, staminate and pistillate separate in the panicle. 



Zizania aquatica, Linn. Indian Rice or Water Oats. In water, 

 commonest N. W. ; with leaves almost as long as those of Indian Corn, the 

 upper part of the ample panicle bearing pistillate flowers on erect, club- 

 shaped pedicels, the lower bearing staminate flowers on spreading 

 branches ; each flower or spikelet with only one pair of glumes, the outer 

 one long-awned ; grain slender, £' long, used for food by N. W. Indians. (5) 



+- +- Flower one and perfect in each spikelet, but sometimes with rudi- 

 ments of others. 



Amm6phila arundinacea, Host. Sea-sand Reed. Beaches, Me., S. , 

 and on the Great Lakes, where it serves a useful purpose in binding the 

 sand by its rootstocks ; has the panicle contracted into a long spike-like 

 inflorescence ; leaves long and strong ; spikelets pale, rather rigid, the hairs 

 at the base of the flowers, two thirds shorter than they. "U 



Phalaris arundinacea, Linn. The wild form may be sought here (see 

 VI.). 



h_ h_ +. Flowers several in each spikelet, all or nearly all perfect. 



Phragmltes communis, Trin. Common Reed. Noble grass, in 

 marshes ; 5°-12° high, with leaves l'-2' wide, the stems dying down to 

 the base ; panicle in late summer or autumn, loose ; spikelets 3-7 -flow- 

 ered, beset with white, silky, long hairs. % 



Arundinaria macrospirma, Michx. Large Cane. Forming the 

 cane brakes, Ky., S.; with woody stems 10°-20° high and leaves l'-2' 

 wide, branching the second year, at length flowering from the branches, 

 in February or March ; the panicle of a few small racemes of large many- 

 flowered naked spikelets, the flowering glume usually downy. % 



Var. suifrutic&sa, Munro. Smaller Reed, Switch Cane. Only 

 4°-10° high, and more branching ; leaves narrower. Md., W. and S. 



