566 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



Var. duritlscnla. Taller; panicle more open or compound; leaTOS 

 flat, becoming convolute; spikelets 4-8-flowered. (F. duriuscula, L.\ — N. 

 New England and northward. Also sparingly naturalized from Europe in dry 

 pastures eastward. June. 

 * * Flowers awnkss and mostly almost pointless : panicle open: grain often free! 



3. F. blXtioe, L. (in part). PamcZe contracted before and after flowering, 

 erect, with short branches ; spikelets crowded, 5 - 10-flowered (about J' long) ; the 

 flowers rather remote, ohloivj-lanceolate ; leaves flat; culms l°-4° high from a 

 short creeping rootstock. 1). (E. pratensis, JTurfs.) — Moist meadows and near 

 dwellings. June. — A pretty good meadow-grass. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. F. nntans, Willd. Panicle of several long and slender spreading hunch- 

 es, mostly in pairs, drooping when old, rough, bearing near their extremity a few 

 ovate 3-5-flowered spikelets (J' long) on pretty long pedicels ; 7?o«jers ovate- 

 oblong, rather obtuse, close together, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 6-nerved. 

 1|, — Rocky woods and copses. July. — Culm 2° - 4° high, naked above : 

 leaves broadly linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often rather hairy. 



37. BROMUS, L. Bkome-Grass. 



Spikelets 5 - many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous ; 

 the lower 1 - 5-, the upper 3 - 9-nerved. Lower palea either convex on the back 

 or eompressed-keelcd, 5 -9-nerved, awned or bristle-pointed from below the 

 mostly 2-cleft tip : upper palea at length adhering to the groove of the oblong 

 or lineal- grain. Stamens 3. Styles attached below the apex of the ovary. — 

 Coarse grasses, with large spikelets, at length drooping, on pedicels thickened 

 at the apex. (An ancient name for the Oat, from-/3po/ios, food.) 



5 1. EtrBROMirS. — Lower palea convex on the bach ; the flowers imbricated over 



one another before expansion : lower glume 3 - 5-, the tipper 5 - 9-nerved. 



* Annuals or biennials : introduced. 



1. B. seoalIncs, L. (Cheat or Chess.) Panicle spreading, even in fruit, 

 the drooping peduncles but little branched ; spikelets oblong-ovate, turgid, smooth, of 

 8-10 rather distant flowers ; lower palea rather longer than the upper, its awn short, 

 sometimes very short or none ; sheaths nearly glabrous. — Grain-fields, too com- 

 mon: also escaped into barren or waste grounds. June, July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. B. kacem6sus, L. (Upright Chess.) Panicle erect, simple, rather 

 narrow, contracted in fruit ; flowers closer, more imbricated; lower palea decided- 

 ly exceeding the upper, bearing an awn of its own length ; culm more slender ; 

 sheatlis sometimes hairy : otherwise nearly aa in the last, for which it is often 

 mistaken in this country. — Grain-fields ; not rare. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. B. mollis, L. (Soft Chess.) Panicle erect, closely contracted in fruit; 

 epikelets conical-ovate, somewhat flattened ; the flowers closely imbricated, downy 

 (as also the leaves, &c.) ; lower palea acute, long-awned. — Wheat-fields, New 

 York and Penn. ; scarce. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



* * Perennial: indigenous. {Lower glume strongly 3-, the upper 5-nei-ved.) 



4. B. Kfilmii. (Wild Chess.) Panicle simple, small (3' -4' long), 

 the .spikelets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7 -12-flowered, denseW 



