262 



GRAMINEAE. 



Vol. I. 



1. Scolochloa festucacea (Willd.) Link. 

 Prickle Fescue. Fig. 630. 



Arundo festucacea Willd. Enum. i : 126. 1809. 



S. festucacea Link, Hort. Berol. 1 : 137. 1827. 



Graphephorum festucaceum A. Gray, Ann. Bot. Soc. 

 Can. 1 : 57. 1861. 



Culms 3°-5° tall, erect, smooth and glabrous. 

 Sheaths often overlapping; ligule i"-2" long; 

 blades 7'-i° long or more, 2"-^" wide, flat, sca- 

 brous on the margins; panicle 8'-i2' in length, 

 usually open, the branches ascending, naked at 

 the base, the lower 3'-4' long; spikelets 3" -4," 

 long; empty basal scales acute, the first shorter 

 than the second; flowering scales scabrous, 

 7-nerved. 



Wet places, Iowa and Nebraska, north to Manitoba 

 and Saskatchewan. July-Aug. 



95. GRAPHEPHORUM Desv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 2 : 189. 1810. 



Slender erect grasses, with flat leaf-blades and a usually contracted nodding panicle. 

 Spikelets 2-4-flowered, flattened, the rachilla hirsute and extending beyond the flowers. Two 

 lower scales empty, somewhat shorter than the flowering scales, thin-membranous, acute, 

 keeled; flowering scales membranous, obscurely nerved, entire, sometimes shQrt-awned just 

 below the apex. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain glabrous. [Greek, 

 pencil-bearing, referring to the tuft of hairs at the end of the rachilla.] 



Three or four species, natives of northern North America. Type species : Aira melicoides Michx. 



i. Graphephorum melicoideum (Michx.) 

 Beauv. Graphephorum. Fig. 631. 



Aira melicoides Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 62. 1803. 

 Graphephorum melicoideum Beauv. Agrost. 164. pi, 15, 



f. 8. 1812. 

 Dupontia Cooleyi A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 556. 1852. 

 Graphephorum melicoides var. major A. Gray, Ann. 



Bot. Soc. Can. 1 : 57. 1861. 



Culms i°-2$° tall, erect, simple, rough just below 

 the panicle. Sheaths usually shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, smooth, or the , lower often villous; ligule 

 1" long or less, truncate; blades ii'-o/ long, i'-2" 

 wide, long-acuminate, rough ; panicle 2' -6' in length, 

 the top usually nodding, the branches erect, i'-2' 

 long; spikelets 2-4-flowered, 2i"-3" long; scales 

 scabrous on the keel, the empty ones unequal, the 

 first i-nerved or obscurely 3-nerved, shorter than 

 the 3-nerved second; flowering scales 3-5-nerved, 

 acute. 



In wet soil, Anticosti Island to Ontario, south to 

 Maine, Vermont and Michigan. Aug.-Sept. 



96. PANICULARIA Fabr. Enum. 

 Hort. Helmst. 373. 1763. 



[Glyceria R. Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 1 : 179. 1810.] 

 Mostly perennial grasses, often tall, with flat leaf-blades and paniculate inflorescence. 

 Spikelets few-many-flowered, terete or somewhat flattened. Two lower scales empty, obtuse 

 or acute, 1-3-nerved ; flowering scales membranous, rounded on the back, 5-9-nerved, the 

 nerves disappearing in the hyaline apex. Palets scarcely shorter than the scales, rarely 

 longer, 2-keeled. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain smooth; en- 

 closed in the scale and palet, free, or when dry slightly adhering to the latter. [Latin, 

 referring to the panicled spikelets.] 



About 20 species, widely distributed in North America, a few in Europe and Asia. Type species : 

 Poa aquatica L. 



