Genus 80. 



GRASS FAMILY 



13. Eragrostis hypnoides (Lam.) 

 B.S.P. Smooth Creeping Love- 

 grass. Fig. 584. 



Poa hypnoides Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1 : 185. 



1791. 

 Eragrostis reptans Nees, Agrost. Bras. 514. 



1829. 

 Eragrostis hypoides B.S.P. Prel. Cat. N. Y. 



69. 1888. 

 Ne-eragrostis hypnoides Bush, Trans. St. 



Louis Acad. 13: 180. 1903. 



Culms i'-i8' long, extensively creep- 

 ing, branched, smooth and glabrous, the 

 branches erect or ascending, i'-6' high. 

 Sheaths shorter than the internodes, vil- 

 lous at the summit; ligule a ring of 

 short hairs ; blades 2' long or less, i"-i" 

 wide, flat, smooth beneath, rough above; 

 spikelets dioecious, 10-35-flowered, 2"- 

 8" long; lower scales unequal, the first 

 one-half to two-thirds as long as the 

 second; flowering scales about ii" long, 

 the lateral nerves prominent; scales of 

 the pistillate flowers more acute than 

 those of the staminate. 



On sandy or gravelly shores, Vermont 

 and Ontario to Washington, south to Florida 

 and Mexico. Also in tropical America. 

 Aug.-Sept. 



14. Eragrostis Weigeltiana (Reichenb.) 



Bush. Hairy Creeping Love-grass. 



Fig- 585- 



Poa Weigeltiana Reichnb. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 



VI. 1 : 40. 1831. 

 Poa capitata Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. II. 5 : 146. 



1837. 

 Eragrostis capitata Nash, in Britt. Man. 1042. 1901. 

 Ne-eragrostis Weigeltiana Bush, Trans. St. Louis 



Acad. 13: 178. 1903. 

 E. Weigeltiana Bush, Trans. St. Louis Acad. 13 : 



180. 1903. 



Plants dioecious. Culms branching and creep- 

 ing, rooting at the nodes which send up branches 

 2i'-4' tall; sheaths, at least those on the 

 branches, pubescent; blades spreading or as- 

 cending, i-ii' long, ii" wide or less, flat, lan- 

 ceolate, pubescent; panicle S'-iJ' long, nearly 

 or quite as broad, oval; spikelets crowded, 

 clustered, pubescent, 12-30-flowered, 3" -7" long, 

 the flowering scales iJ"-2" long. 



In sandy, usually wet, soil, Nebraska to Louis- 

 iana and Texas ; also in Mexico and northern South 

 America. July-Oct. 



81. SPHENOPHOLIS Scribn. Rhodora 8: 142. 1906. 

 [Eatonia Endlich. Gen. 99. 1837. Not Raf. 1819.] 



Tufted perennial grasses, with flat or involute leaf-blades and usually contracted panicles. 

 Spikelets 2-3-flowered, the rachilla extended beyond the flowers. Two lower scales empty, 

 shorter than the spikelet, the first linear, acute, i-nerved, the second much broader, 3-nerved, 

 obtuse or rounded at the apex, or sometimes acute, the margins scarious ; flowering scales 

 narrower, generally obtuse. Palet narrow, 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct, short. 

 Stigmas plumose. Grain free, loosely enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, referring to 

 the wedge-shaped second scale of the spikelet.] 



A genus of 7 or 8 species, confined to North America. Type species : Aira obtusata Michx. 



Empty scales unequal, the first shorter and about one-sixth as wide as the second. 



Second scale obovate, often almost truncate. i. E. obtusata. 



Second scale oblanceolate, obtuse or abruptly acute. 2. E. pallens. 



Empty scales equal, the first not less than one-third as wide as the second. 3. E. nitida. 



