23° GRAMINEAE. Vol. I. 



Flowering scales 54" long, the hairs on the nerves long and copious. i. L. filiformis. 



Flowering scales less than yi" long, the hairs on the nerves short and scant. 2. L. attenuata. 



i. Leptochloa filiformis (Lam.) Beauv. Slender Grass. Feather- or Salt-grass. 



Fig- 554- 



Festuca filiformis Lam. 111. 1: 191. 1791. 



Eleusine mucronata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 65. 1803. 



Leptochloa filiformis Beauv. Agrost. 166. 1812. 



Leptochloa mucronata Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 91. 1829. 



Culms i°-3° tall, erect, branched, smooth and gla- 

 brous. Sheaths shorter than the internodes, smooth 

 and glabrous; ligule short, lacerate-toothed ; blades 

 2'-%' long, i"-3" wide, scabrous; spikes numerous, 

 slender, rigid, spreading or ascending, the lower 2'-& 

 long; spikelets usually 3-flowered, about 1" long, the 

 empty scales shorter than the spikelet, acute, i-nerved, 

 slightly scabrous on the keel ; flowering scales 2-toothed 

 at the apex, ciliate on the nerves. 



In dry or moist soil, Virginia to Illinois, and Cali- 

 fornia, south to Florida and Mexico. Also in tropical 

 America. July-Sept. 



2. Leptochloa attenuata Nutt. Sharp-scaled Leptochloa. Fig. 555. 



L, attenuata Nutt. ; Steud. Syn. PI. Gram. 209. 1855. 



Culms tufted, branching at the base, 8'-i6' tall, 

 rarely taller; lower sheaths sparingly pilose; blades 

 i¥-a' long; spikes numerous, finally spreading, up 

 to 2' long, rarely longer; spikelets ii"-iJ" long, the 

 scales 5 or 6, the outer 2 subulate, acuminate, awn- 

 pointed, usually about equal, or the first shorter than 

 the second, which reaches or extends beyond the 

 apex of the second flowering scale. 



In sandy river bottoms, Illinois to Oklahoma and 

 Louisiana. Sept. and Oct. . 



68. ACAMPTOCLADOS Nash, in Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 139. 1903. 



Perennial tufted grasses with stiff culms and a panicle composed of scattered distant 

 widely spreading rigid branches. Spikelets scattered and distinct, singly disposed in two 

 rows, sessile, 4-6-flowered. Scales 6-8, firm ; two lower scales empty, acuminate, about equal, 

 the first i-nerved, the second usually 3-nerved; flowering scales very acute, becoming harder 

 in fruit, 3-nerved, the nerves glabrous, the lateral nerves vanishing at the margin below the 

 apex; palet compressed, its two nerves ciliolate, gibbous at the base, obtuse at the apex. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. [Greek, in reference to its rigid branches.] 



A monotypic genus of south central United States. 



