544 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



4. A. OANiNA, L. (Brown Bbnt-Geass.) Culms slender (1°- 2° high); 

 root-leaves involute-bristle-foi-m, those of the culm flat and broader, linear ; 

 branches of the short and loose erect-spreading panicle slender, branching above 

 the middle ; lower palea a little shorter than the almost equal glumes, bearing a 

 long (at length bent or somewhat twisted) aum on Ike back a little below the middle, 

 the upper one minute and inconspicuous (only half the length of the ovary); 

 spikelets greenish, turning brown or purplish, about 1" long. 1|. — Meadows, 

 &c., E. New England : scarce. (Nat. from En.) 



Yar. alplna, Oakes (var. •? tenella. Ton:; A. rubra, £., ed.l.; A. Picker- 

 ingii & A. concinua, Tuclcerm.), is a lower, often contracted mountain form, with 

 spikelets Ij" long. Mountain-tops, Maine to New York. July, Aug. (Eu.) 



5 2. AGROSTIS Proper. — Upper palea manifest, but shorter than the lower. 



5. A. vulgaris, With. (Red-top. Herd's-Grass of Penn., &c.) . 

 Rootstocks creeping; culm mostly upright (l°-2°high); panicle oS/onjr, with 

 spreading slightly rough short branches [purple] ; leaves linear ; ligule very short, 

 truncate ; lower palea nearly equalling the glumes, cliiefly awnless, S-norved ; 

 the upper about one half its length. 1). (A. polymorpha, Hiids. partly. — Varies 

 with a rougher panicle (A. hispida, Willd.), and rarely with tlie flower awned 

 (A. puraila, L.) — Low meadows ; natui-alized from Eu. Also native in North- 

 ern New York and northward. (Eu.) 



6. A. Alba, L. CWhitb Bent-Gkass.) Culm ascending, rooting at the 

 lower joints (l°-2° high) ; panicle narrow, contracted after flowering [greenish- 

 white or barely tinged with purple), the branches rough ; ligule oblong or linear ; 

 lower palea rather shorter than the glumes, 5-nerved, awnless, or rarely short- 

 awned on tlie back ; otherwise as in the last. \ — Varies with the panicle 

 more contracted (A. stolonifcra, Ij., Fiorin Grass); and var. akistXta, with 

 the lower palea long-awned from near its base. (A. stricta, Willd.) — Moist 

 meadows and fields. A valuable grass, like the foregoing. (Nat. from Eu.) 



8. POLiVPOGOIV, Desf. Beakd-Gkass. 



Spiliclets 1-flowcred, in a contracted somewhat spike-like panicle. Glumes 

 nearly equal, long-awned, much longer than the membranaceous palea, the lower 

 of wliich is commonly short-awnod below the apex. Stamens 3. Grain free. 

 (Name composed of ttoXu, much, and Traytov, beard; from the awns.) 



1. P. MoNSPELiENSis, Desf. Panicle inteiTuptcd ; glumes oblong, the awn 

 from a shallow notch at the summit ; lower palea awncd. (T — On the coast. 

 Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire [Oakes ^ Bobbins), Virginia'? and southward. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



9. C IN IV A, L. Wood Reed-Geass. 



Spikelets 1-flowercd, much flattened, crowded in an open flaccid panicle. 

 Glumes lanceolate, acute, strongly keeled, hispid-serrulate on the keel ; the lower 

 rather smaller, the upper a little exceeding the paleas. Flower manifestly 

 stalked in the glumes, smooth and naked ; the palea; much like the glumes ; 

 the lower longer than the upper, short-avvned or bristle-pointed on the back be- 



