GRAMINEAE. 



Vol. I. 



i. Redfieldia flexuosa (Thurb.) Vasey. Red- 

 field's-grass. Fig. 566. 



Craphephorum ( ?) flexuosum Thurb. Proc. Acad. Phila. 



1863: 78. 1863. 

 R. flexuosa Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club 14: 133. 1887. 



Culms ii°-4° tall, erect from a long horizontal 

 rootstock, simple, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths 

 smooth, the lower short and overlapping, often 

 crowded, the upper much longer; ligule a ring of 

 short hairs; blades i°-2° long, i"-2" wide, invo- 

 lute ; panicle ample and diffuse, 8-22' in length, the 

 branches finally widely spreading, fiexuous, the 

 lower 3'-8' long; spikelets about 3" long, 1-3-flow- 

 ered, the empty scales acute, glabrous; flowering 

 scales with a ring of hairs at the base, minutely 

 scabrous, twice the length of the empty ones, acute, 

 the middle nerve usually excurrent as a short point. 



On prairies, South Dakota to Colorado and Okla^ 

 homa. Blow-out-grass. Aug.-Sept. 



77. DIPLACHNE Beauv. Agrost. 80. pi. 16. f. 9. 1812. 



Tufted grasses/ with narrow flat leaf-blades and long slender spikes arranged in an open 

 panicle, or rarely only one terminal spike. Spikelets several-flowered, narrow, sessile or 

 shortly pedicelled, erect. Two lower scales empty, membranous, keeled, acute, unequal; 

 flowering scales 1-3-nerved, 2-toothed and mucronate or short-awned between the teeth. 

 Palet hyaline, 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely 

 enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, referring to the 2-toothed flowering scales.] 



About 15 species, natives of the warmer regions of both hemispheres. Besides the following 

 species, about 6 others occur in the southern and western parts of North America. Type species : 

 Festuca fascicularis Lam. 



Awn less than ^ as long as the flowering scale. 



Spikelets 2"— a," long, the flowering scales acute or obtuse at the 2-toothed apex, lateral nerves 

 often excurrent. 1. D. fascicularis. 



Spikelets s"-6" long, the flowering scales acuminate at the usually entire apex, the lateral nerves 

 rarely excurrent. 2. D. acuminata. 



Awn l / 2 as long as the flowering scale or more. 3. D. maritima. 



I. Diplachne fascicularis (Lam.) Beauv. 

 Salt-meadow Diplachne. Clustered 

 Salt-grass. Spike-grass. Fig. 567. 



Festuca fascicularis Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1 : 189. 



1791. 

 Diplachne fascicularis Beauv. Agrost. 160. 1812. 



Culms i°-2i° tall, erect, ascending, or root- 

 ing at the lower nodes, finally branched, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths shorter than 

 the internodes, loose, smooth or rough, the 

 upper one longer and enclosing the base of 

 the panicle; ligule i"-2" long; blades 3'-8' 

 long, i"-ij" wide, scabrous; panicle 4'-i2' in 

 length, often exceeded by the upper leaf, the 

 branches erect or ascending, the lower 2'-$' 

 long; spikelets 8-10-flowered, 2"-4" long; 

 lower scales glabrous, rough on the keel; 

 flowering scales, exclusive of the awn, ii"-2" 

 long, the midnerve extending into an awn i" 

 long or less. 



In brackish marshes, Florida to Texas, and up 

 the Mississippi to Illinois and Missouri. Also in the West Indies. Aug.-Oct. 



