Oeder 166.— GEAMINBA 795 



glmno about as long but very much uarrower than the obovata, obtuse, puberw- 

 lent upper one; pales soarious at summit, a little exserted. — Penn. (Jackson) 

 to Wis. (Lapham), and S. States. Jn., Jl. (Aira, Mx. A. truncata Mulil. Koe- 

 leria Torr., and Ed. 1. E. paniculata Nutt. Eeboulea, Kuath. B. purpuraa- 

 cens Raf.) 

 1 E. PennBylv5nioa Gray. Erect, tufted, minutely puberulent, usually abont 

 2f high ; Ivs. flat, short, 1 to 3' by 2J" ; pan. slender, open, usually with diverg- 

 ing branches, and 5 to 10' long; spikelets rather loose, 1 J" long; upper glume 

 abruptly short-pointed ; pales acutish, exserted half their length. — Rocky woods 

 and meadows, XJ. S. and Can., frequent but not abundant The larger varieties 

 are very elegant. Jn., Jl. (Aira mollis MuhL Koeleria DO. Reboulea, Kunth., 

 Gray.) 



38. MEL^ICA, L. Melic Gkass. (Lat. mel, honey.) Glumes 2, 

 unequal, membranous, obtuse, 2 to 5-flowered ; flowers a little longer 

 than tho glumes, tbo upper incomplete and more or loss contorted; 

 pales truncate, veiny, as well as the glumes ; caryopsis free, not fur- 

 rowed. — Lvs. flat. Spikelets pedicellate, in a subsimple panicle. 



M. mfitica Walt. Culm 3 — if high, glabrous ; lvs. Unear, flat, pubescent beneath ; 

 stip. lacerate; panicle glabrousi, loose, few-flowered, erect or a little nodding, 

 branches simple, solitary; spikelets C — 8" long; lower glume shorter, very 

 smooth; palese veined; upper fl. neuter, pedicellate, consisting of very short, 

 roundish pales often twisted together. — If Rich upland soil, Penn. to Wis. and S. 

 States. Varies, with a panicle reduced to a mero raceme. Jn. (M. glabra Mx. 

 M. speciosa MuhL) 



39. ERAGROS'TIS, Beauv. Spikelet? 5 to cio(rarely fewer)-flowered, 

 compressed ; glumes and fls. membranous; lower pale carinate, C-veincd, 

 not webbed, upper pale persistent on tho flexuous rachis after the free 

 caryopsis has fallen with the lower. — Hairy or roughish grasses with 

 involute lvs., sheaths at throat and axil of branches often bristly and fls. 

 in panicles, the branches mostly scattered. (Poa, L.) 



8 Spikelets few-flowored (fls. 2 to 4, rnrely more) Nos. le, 9, 8 



I Spikelets many-flowered (fls. 5 to 3u). (b) 



b I'.anicio ditfuse, capillary, longer than tbo rest of the culm Nos. 7, 6, 5 



b Panicle contracted, rathor dense. — Uulins decuiubeut below Nos. 4, 3, 4 



— Culms [irocumbent, creeijing No. 1 



1 B. reptans Nees. Culm branched, creeping, rooting at tho joints, 6 — 12' ; lvs. 

 subulate, flat, 2 — 3' long ; sheaths open, pilous on the margin and throat ; pan. 

 1 2' long, branches short, simple, in fascicles, few-flowered : spikelets linear- 

 lanceolate, with 12 — 20 acuminate flowers. — (D On sandy banks of rivers, K T. 

 to Ky. and La. Jl., Aug. — Tho plant is somewhat dioecious. 



2 B. poEeoides Beauv. Culm oblique or decumbent, geniculate, 1 — 2f long ; 

 lvs. lanceolate, attenuate at end, scabrous on the margin and abovo ; sheaths 

 pilous at tho throat ; stip. short, bearded ; panicle expanding, branches subdivided, 



■ flexuous, subpilous in the axils ; spikelets ovaU-obhng, 12 — 20-flowered ; glumes 

 nearly equal. — (D A fine-looking grass, fields and waste grounds, common. Jl., 

 Aug. § Eur. It has a strong, peculiar odor. Varies much ; tlie later growths 

 are in more dense tufta, with smaller spikelets. (E. megastachya Lk. P. Era- 

 grostis L.) 



3 E. piloea L. Culms in tufts, geniculate, ascending, 6 to 12' ; lvs. narrow-linear, 

 or subulate, short; sheaths slightly bearded at the throat; pan. oblong, some of 

 the middle branches opposite ; spikelets Unear, bluish, about as long (3 to 4") as 

 die pedicels, 6 to 12-floWered, tho rachis at length becoming pectinate or serrulate 

 with the persistent upper pales.— (p In sandy or gravelly waste places, Conn, 

 to Ga. and W. States. Jl, Aug. § Eur. (E. pectinacea, Mx., a more appropriate 

 name, as the plant is scarcely pilous.) 



4 B conferta Trin. Guim rather stout, geniculate below, branched, 2 to 3/; Im 

 broad-lanceolato, rough, flat, and sheaths naked; pan. long (5 to 12), narrow, 

 branches and branchlets vi;ry uumorous, svberecl, each racemous with the smaB, 



