GRAMINEiE. (ttEASS FAMILY.) 543 



S. S. serdtinus. Smooth; culms very slender, flallish (8' -15' high), 

 few4eaved ; leaves very slender, channelled ; panicle soon much exserted, the dif- 

 fuse capillary branches scattered ; glumes ovate, obtuse, about half the length 

 of the paleae. (J) ? ( Agr. & Vilfa serotina, Torr. Y. tenera, Trin. Poa 1 uni- 

 flora, Muld. P. modesta, Tuckerm.) — Sandy wet places, E. New England to 

 Now Jersey and Michigan. Sept. — A very delicate grass; the spikelets, &c. 

 smaller than in the last. 



7. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Gkass. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in an open panicle. Glumes somewhat equal, or the 

 lower rather longer, usually longer than the paleaj, pointless. Palea: very thin, 

 pointless, naked ; the lower 3 - 5-nerved, and frequently awned on the back, tlie 

 upper often minute or wanting. Stamens chiefly, 3. Grain (caryopsis) free. 

 — Culms usually tufted, slender. (Name from dypos, a field, the place of 

 growth. ) 



\ 1. TEICHODIXJM, Michx. — Upper palea abortive, minute, or none. 



1. A. el&ta, Trin. (Talj.er Thin-Ghass.) Culms firm or stout {2° ~ 3° 

 high) ; leaves flat {I"-2" wide) ; upper lignles elongated (2"-3" long) ; spike- 

 lets crowded on the branches of the spreading panicle above the middle (1^'' long) ; 

 lower palea awnless, slightly shoi-ter than the rather unequal glumes ; the upper 

 wanting. % (A. Schweinitzii, Trin. ? A. altissima, Tuckerm., excl. var. laxa. 

 Trich. elatum, Pursh.) — Swamps, New Jersey and southward. October. 



2. A. perennans, Tuckerm. (Thin-Grabs.) Cw^ms s/cntfo-, erect from 

 a decumbent base (l°-2° high); leaves flat (the upper 4' -6' long, l"-2" 

 wide) ; panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green, the bunches short, dimded 

 and flower-bearing from or below the middle ; lower palea awnless (rarely short- 

 awned), shorter than the unequal glumes ; the upper minute or obsolete. H. 

 (Cornucopias perennans, Walt. Trich. perennans. Ell. T. decumbens, Michx. 

 T. scabrum, Jl/uAZ., not Agr. scabra, Willd. Agr. anomala, Willd.) — Damp 

 shaded places. July, Aug. — Spikelets, &c. as in No. 3, into which it appears 

 to vary. 



3. A> scabra, "Willd. (Haik-Gkass.) Culms very slender, erect {l°- 2° 

 high) ; leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper 1"- 3" long, 

 less than 1" wide); jMnicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary 

 branches flower-bearing at and near the apex ; lower palea awnless or occasionally 

 short-awned on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute glumes ; the 

 upper minute or obsolete. U ® ' (A. laxiflora, Richard. A. Michauxii, Trin. 

 partly. Trich. laxifloram, Michx. T. montanum, Ton:) — Exsiccated places, 

 common. June, July. — Remarkable for the long and divergent capillary 

 branches of the extremely loose panicle ; these are whorled, rough with very 

 minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 1" 

 ]ong. — A variety? from about the White Mountains, &c. (var. montana, 

 Tuckerm.), has a more or less exserted awn, thus differing from the T. monta- 

 num, Torr. (A. oredphila, Trin.), which is a dwaif^'d form, growing in tnfts in 

 hollows of rocks, &c. 



