792 Obdbe 156.— GRAMINE^. 



Ivs. Bmoothisb, on sheaths more or less hairy or almost smooth ; pan. large, 6 to 

 10' long, branches subsimple, wborled ; spikelets smooth, lance-ovate, much com- 

 presaed, 2-edgecl, 1' long, J as wide, 8 to 12-flowered; lower glume 3, upper 6- 

 veined; lower pale 7 to 9-veined, much larger than the strongly 2 -keeled upper, 

 with scarcely any awn. — (T) Cultivated at the South (in 1857) from seeds distri- 

 buted by the government, but proved no better than our Chess, f Peru. 



5 B. ciliatus L. Culm erect, smooth, 2 to 4f high ; Ivs. flat, some pubescent, 6 

 to 12' long, on sheaths more or less pilous with deflexed hairs ; pan. large, erect, 

 5 to 8' long, finally nodding, branches in 23 and 4s, compound ; spikelets at first 

 lance-fusiform, 1 to 1\ -flowered, the fls. soon separating; glume lower 1, upper 3- 

 veined; pales compressed-carinate above, silky-haired near the margins, tmcc 

 longer than the straight aim. — If Damp woods along rivers, U. S. and Can. Jn., 

 JL (B. Canadensis Mx. B. pubescens Muhl. E. purgans, Ed. 2.) 



/?. PDRGANS. Pan. more open ; spkl. silky-hairy all over. — Mid. and S. 

 States. 



6 B. teotoram L. Culm slender, 1 to 3f; pubescent above ; Ivs. pubescent ; 

 sheaths ciliate with few long hairs ; pan. compound, at length 1-sided and nod- 

 ding ; pedicels capillary ; spikelets linear-oblong, minutely downy, abtmt t-flowered; 

 glumes lower 1-, upper 3-veined ; lower pale 3-veined, carinate, scarious-edged, 

 lance-subulate, scarcely as long as its awn. — (J) N. York (Sartwell), Penn. (Jack- 

 son). (B. sterilis Torr.) § 



31. TRICUS'PIS, Beauv. (Lat. tres, three, cuspis, a point ; refer- 

 ring to the structure of the lower pale.) Spikelets terete or tumid, 3 

 to 9-flowered, upper flower abortive ; glumes 2, unequal, awnless ; pales 

 2, the lower larger, hairy-fringed along the keel and the 2 lateral veins, 

 and ending in 3 short cusps or mucrones (the projecting veins and mid- 

 vein) and 2 intermediate teeth, upper pale 2-toothed ; stamens 1 to 3 ; 

 stigmas plumous ; caryopsis smooth, free, 2-horned. — Erect, simple. 

 Pan. mostly with racemous branches. 



1 T. eeslerioides Torr. Palse Red-top. Culm hard and firm, glabrous, 4 to 

 5f high; Ivs. glabrous, linear, involute when dry, sheaths hairy at the throat; 

 pan^ open, loose, 8 io 12' long, the slender branches at lejigth spreading ; spikl. te- 

 retish, lanceolate, about 5-£lowered, purple, 2 to 3" long; cusps of the lower pale 

 very short. — U A splendid grass, in dry fields, N. Eng. to 111. and S. States. 

 Aug., Sept. (Poa Mx. Windsoria poseformia Nntt. Uralepis cuprea Kunth.) — 

 A variety has smaller, 3 to 5-flowered, palo purple spikelets and flexuous branches. 

 Another var. has the spikelets white. 



2 T. ambigua Kunth. Culm strictly erect, 2 to 4f high, slender and firm, 

 glabrous as well as the linear, convolute-fihform Ivs., and the sheaths which are 

 scarce half the length of the internodea; pan. contracted, small, 3 to 5' long ; spike- 

 lets few, subsessile, ovate turgid, 5 to V-flowered, the fls. at length divaricate, more 

 or less purple. — U Car. to Ga. and La. Spkl not longer, but much thicker than 

 in No. 1. Sept. (Poa, Ell.) 



3 T. striata. Glabrous ; culm slender, firm, erect, 3 to 6f high ; pan. very strict, 

 spike-like, dense ; spkl. sessile, flat, nearly as broad as long, 1 to 9-flowered ; glumes 

 laTice-linear, much longer than the pales, about as long as the spikelets. — y Miss, 

 and Jjit. Lvs. very long, flat. Pan. about 6' long, 6" wide. A singular grasa 

 (Windsoria Nutt.) 



32. URAL'EPIS, Nutt. Sand Grass. (Gr. ovpd, tail, AeTrtf, a scale ; 

 a characteristic name.) Spikelets 2 to 5-flowered, fls. distant ; glumes 

 2, shorter than the flowers, unequal, awnless ; pales 2, very unequal, 

 both conspicuously fringe-bearded along the 2 or 3 veins, the lower 2- 

 cleft, with the midvein produced into a short, straight awu between the 

 2 segments ; upper 2-keeled. — Culms decumbent, branched. Pan. small, 

 the branches racemed. 



X U. purpuirea Nutt Csspitous; culms procumbent at base, boarded at th» 



