V74 OBDEa 156.— GEAMINEuE. 



Ivs. lance-linear, flat, clustered, 1 — 2' long, 2 — 3" wide; "spike solitary, axil- 

 lary, setaceous, about 4-flowered ; paleae awnless ; stig. 2, very long ; fr. reni- 

 form." — -y Water, S. Car. to Fla. and La. (Hale, whose specimens are without 

 fis. or fruit.) (Hydrocochloa, Palis. Hydropyrum, Kunth.) 



4. AGROS'TIS, L. Bent Grass. (Gr. aypoq, a field; growing in 

 fields and pastures.) — Spikes l-flowered ; glumes 2, subcqual, awnless, 

 usually longer than the flower ; pales 2, thin, pointless, naked, the lower 

 3 — 5-veined, sometimes awned on the back, the upper often minute or 

 wanting; grain free. — 2[ mostly, and CEespitous, with slender culms 

 and an open panicle. 



§ AoKOSTiB proper. Upper piilea | to i as lon^ a.s the lower. Fls. rather dense Nos. 1, 2 



§ TuicnODiUM. Upper palea minute or wanting. r.anic]6 thin. (*) 



* Lower palea with a long cxaerted awn on the back. .Nos. 3, 4 



* Lower paleai awnless, or bearing a very short awn..No^. 5, 6 



1 A. vulgaris With. Red Top. Dew Grass. Heed's Grass of the S. States. 

 Culm erect, 1 — 2f high; panicle purple, oblong, with short, spreading or divari- 

 cate, roughish branches ; Ivs. linear, with very short ligules (sometimes the upper 

 one elongated) ; lower pale twice as large as the upper, and nearly as long as the 

 lanceolate, aouto glumes, mostly awnless. — U. S. and Can. A very valuable 

 grass spread over hiUs, vales and meadows, forming a soft, dense turf. Variable. 

 (A. polymorphs Huds. A. pumila L. A. hispida Willd.) 



2 A. dlba L. White Bejtt. English Bent. Bonnet Grass. Florin Grass. 

 Culm decumbent, geniculate, rooting at the lower joints and sending, out stolons ; 

 Ivs. linear, smooth, those of the stolons erect and somewhat subulate ; ligules long, 

 •membranous ; panicle dense, narrow and contracted after flowering, greenish white 

 or slightly purplish ; lower pale 5-veined, rarely awned. — A common and valuable 

 grass ill old fields and drained swamps. It is quite variable iu a.spect. § Eur. 

 (A. stolonifera L. A decumbens MuhL) 



/3. STRiCTA. Lower pale with an awn from its base twice longer than itselt 



(A.stricta Willd.) 

 y. DisPAR. Southern Bent. Larger (2 — 3f high) in aU its parts ; outer pale 



obtusely 3-toothed. Much valued in some parts of the S. States. (A. dia- 



par Mx.? Kunth.) 



3 A. canina L. Brown Bent. Dog's Bent. Culm rooting at the lower nodes, 

 slender, somewhat branched, about 2f high ; Ivs. setaceous involute, the upper 

 linear ; panicle diffuse, ovoid, at length brownish, branches rough, diverging, dividing 

 beyond their middle ; glumes subequal, shorter than the lower pale which bears 

 a long awn a little below the middle of the back ; upper pale minute. — Wet mead- 

 ows, E. States, rare. § Eur. 



(3. ALPiNA. Culms low, in email tufts, with contracted panicles, nearly smooth, 

 purplish ; awn twisted. — Mts., N. States. (A. Pickeringii Tuckm.) 



4 A. araohnoides Ell. Culm erect, slender, 5 — 8' high; paniculate more than 

 kalf its length ; Ivs. lineai--aetaceous, 1 — 3' long ; panicle narrow, branches capil- 

 lary, floriferous half their length ; glumes green, ovate, acute, J'' long, equal ; 

 pale a little shorter, bearing on its back above the middle a contorted awn 5 or 6 

 limes longer than itself, and as fine as a gossamer. — Car. to Ga. (Feay). The awns, 

 from their fineness, can hardly be seen without a lens. Apr. 



5 A. soabra Willd. Rough Hair Grass. Thin Grass. Culms tufted, erect 

 from a decwmheni vase, very slender, 1 — 2f high ; Ivs. linear, 3' — 6' long, rough, 

 the radical involute-setaceous ; ligulo oblong, obtuse ; panicle large, with long, 

 capillary, erect, or divergent, scabrous-hispid whorled branches, trichotomously 

 divided near the end ; spikelets in terminal clusters, at length purplish ; glumes 

 lance-linear, acuminate, scabrous-hispid on the keel. — Fields and pastures, U. S. 

 and Brit. Am. Remarkable for its thin and airy panicles which are at length 

 driven before the wind. Jn., Jl. (T. laxifiorum Mx. T. montanum Torr.) 



/3. OREOPHILA. Culm 6 — 12' high, simple, panicle less diffuse; pale with a 

 short, twisted awn at its back. — Mts. and rocky woods. (A. montana Tuckm.) 



y. PER^iNNANS. Patdole pale green, branches shorter, floriferous more than 

 half their length. — In damp shades. (T. scabrum Muhl. A. scabra, ed. 2d.) 



