540 GRAMINEjiE. (gEASS FAMILY.) 



# Spikekts narrowly oblong, rather loosely crowded. 



1. li. oryzoides, Svvartz. (Rice Cdt-grass.) Panicle diffusely hram-lied, 

 often sheathed at the base; spikelets flat, rather spreading in flower (2j"-3" 

 long) ; stamens 3 ; palcse strongly bristly-ciliate (whitish). — Wet places ; com 

 mon. (En.) 



2. Li. Tirginica, Willd. (White Grass.) Panicle simple; the spilce- 

 lets closdy oppressed on the slender branches around which they are partly curved 

 (1^" long) ; stamens 2 (a third imperfect or wanting) ; paleas sparingly ciliate 

 (greenish-white). — Wet woods. Aug., Sept. 



* * Spikelets broadly oval, imbricately covering each other (24"-3" long). 



3. Li. lenticuluris, Michx. (Fly-catch Grass.) Smoothish ; pani- 

 cle simple ; palcie very flat, strongly bristly ciliate (said to close and catch flies) ; 

 stamens 2. — -Low grounds, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



Oktza SATivA, the Rice-plant, is allied to this genus. 



2. ZIZABfIA, Gronov. Water or Indian Rice. 



Howers monoscious ; the staminato and pistillate both in 1-flowored spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary, and forming a little 

 cup. Paleffi herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile spikelets, 

 the lower tipped with a straight awn in the fertile ones. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. — Large and often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with 

 the club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Zi^dvtov, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain. ) 



1. Z. aiqilfltica., L. (Indian Rice. Water Oats.) Lower branches 

 of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the upper erect, pistillate ; 

 pedicels strongly club-shaped ; lower paleae long-awned, rough ; styles distinct ; 

 grain linear, slender. ® (Z. clavulosa, Michx.) — Swampy borders of streams 

 and in shallow water ; common, especially northwestward. Aug. — Culms 3° - 

 9° high. Leaves flat, 2° - 3° long, linear-lanceolate. Grain J' long ; gathered 

 for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Zt inilia.cen,, Michx. Panicle diffuse, ample, the staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers intermixed; awns short; styles united ; grain ovate. 1). — Penn.? 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. — Loaves involute. 



S. AI-OPECIJRUS, L. Foxtail Grass. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palea, which 

 is awned on the back below the middle : upper palea wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. — Panicle contracted into a 

 cyUndrical and soft dense spike. (Name from aXairrj^, fl>x, and ovpd, tail, the 

 popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. PEATiENSis, L. (Meadow Poxtail.) Culm upright, smooth (2° 

 high) ; palen equalling the acute glumes ; awn exserted more than half its length, 

 twisted; upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. IJ. — Meadows and 

 pastures of E. New England and New York. May. (Nat. from Eu.) 



