GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 535 



131. C. Oligosp^rma, Michx. Sterile spikes 1-2, slender; fertile 

 ipikes 1-2, short, ovoid, few-flowered, the lower on a very short stalk; perigynia 

 ovoid, taperiDg into a short minutely toothed beak, not much longer than the 

 ovate awnless scale ; culm very slender ; leaves and bracts linear, at length involiUe. 

 (C. Oakesiana, Dew.) — Borders of lakes and ponds, especially on mountains. 

 Now England, N. New York, Wisconsin, and northward. 



132. C. long:irAstriS, Torr. Sterile spikes usually 3, at the summit of 

 a long slender stalk ; the lower often bearing some fertile flowers ; fertile spilces 

 2-3, cylindrical, more or less distant, on hmg filiform at length drooping stalks, 

 loosely flowered ; perigynia globose-ovoid, smooth and shining, abruptly contracted 

 into a veiy long and narrow beak, which is rough on the margin, oblique and 2- 

 c.left at the membranaceous orifice, a little longer than the lanceolate light-colored 

 or white scale. (C. Sprengelii, Dew.) — Shady rocks, N. New England to Wis- 

 consin, and northward. — Though agreeing with the species of this section in the 

 numerous staminate spikes and the long-beaked fruit, this plant is perhaps as 

 nearly allied to No. 97. 



Order 134. GRAMiNE.iE. (Grass Family.) 



Grasses, with usually hollow stems (oulma) closed at the Joints, alternate 2- 

 ranked leaves, their sheaths split or open on the side opposite the blade ; the 

 hypogynous flowers imbricated with ^-ranked glumes or tracts : the outer pair 

 (flumes proper, caiyx, L.) subtending the spikelet of one or several flow- 

 ers ; the inner pair (palece, outer perianth, E. Br.) enclosing each partic- 

 ular, flower, which is usually furnished with 2 or 3 minute hypogynous 

 scales (squamulce, Juss., corolla, Micheli, hdictdce, Beauv.). Stamens 1-6, 

 commonly 3 : anthers versatile, 2-celled, the cells distinct. Styles mostly 

 2 or 2-parted: stigmas hairy or feathery. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, form- 

 ing a seed-like grain (caryopsis') in fruit. Embryo small, on the outside 

 and at the base of the floury albumen. — Boots fibrous. Sheath of the 

 ' leaves usually more or less extended above the base of the blade into a 

 scarious appendage (%ufe). Spikelets panicled or spiked. Inner (upper) 

 palea usually 2-nerved or 2-keeled, therefore probably consisting of two 

 unitod. — A vast and most important family, as it furnishes the cereal 

 grains, and the principal food of cattle, &c. 



Synopsis. 



Teibe I. POACE.E, R. Brown Spikelets I - many-flowered, when more than one- 

 floweied centripetal in development ; the lowest flowers first developing, the uppermost, 

 if any, imperfect or abortive, the rest all alike in the spikelet (perfect, or occasionally 

 monoefdous or dioecious) ; only in a few exceptional cases with the lowest of the several 

 flowers less perfect than the upper {'nz. staminate only in Arrhenatherum and Phrag- 

 mites, neutral in Uniola, Ctenium, &c.). 



Subtribe 1. Obtzb^. Spikelets 1-flowered, in panicles, the flowers often monoecious. 

 Qlumes abortive or wanting! Inner palesB 3-nerved '■ Squamulse 2. Stamens 1-6. 



1. LEERSIA. Flowers perfect, strongly flattened contraiy to the awnless paleas 



2. ZIZANIA. Flowers momecious. Valess convex ; the lower one awned in the fertile flowen. 



