GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 573 



acutely 2-eleft tip, proceeding from the mid-nerve only. Stamens 3. Grain 

 oblong-linear, grooved on one side, usually hairy, free, but invested by the upper 

 palea. (The classical Latin name.) 

 41. AVENASTRUM, Koah. — Spikelets rather small, seoeraUJlowered ; '.he 



Jhwers remotish ; glumes 1- and 3^nerved ; huier palea about 1-nerved : root 



perennial. 



1. A. striata, Michx. Culms tufted, slender (1° -2° high); leaves nar- 

 row ; panicle simple, loose, drooping with age ; the few 3 - 5rflowered spikelets 

 on rough capillary pedicels, much longer than the very unequal purple glumes ; 

 lower palea with a short bearded tuft at the base, much longer than the ciliate- 

 fringed upper one (J' long), bearing a long straightish awn just below the taper- 

 ing very sharply cuspidate 2-cIeft tip. (Trisetum purpurascens, Torr.) — Eocky, 

 shaded hills, N. New England, New York, and northward. June. 



4 2. AIROPSIS, Desv., Fries. — Spikelets very small, of 2 closely approximate 

 /lowers, and with no rudiment of a third: glumes 1-nemed: lower palea (psmrdy 

 ^-5-nerved: root annual. (Forms a genus intermediate between Aira and 

 Avena, here appended to the latter for convenience.) 



2. A. FS.MOOX., Beauv. Dwarf (3' -4' high), tufted; leaves short, bristle- 

 shaped ; branches of the small oblong panicle appressed ; awn from below the 

 middle of the flower. (Aira prsecox, L.) — Sandy fields. New Jersey to Vir- 

 ginia: rare. (Nat. from Eu.) 



A. BAiivA, L., the Common Oat, belongs to the section with annual roots, 

 and long, 7 - 9-nerved glumes. 



51. .ARRIBENATHERIJM, Beauv. Oat-Gkass. 



Spikelets open-panicled, 2-flowered, with the rudiment of a third flower ; the 

 middle flower perfect, with its lower palea barely bristle-pointed from near the 

 tip ; the lowest flower staminato only, bearing a long bent awn below the mid- 

 dle of the back (whence the name, from apprjv, masculine, and dOr)p, awn) : — 

 otherwise as in Avena, of which it is only a peculiar modification. 



1. A. ATENiCKUM, Beauv. Leaves broad, flat; panicle elongated (8'-10' 

 long) ; glumes scarious, very unequal. 1| (Avena elatior, L.) — Meadows and 

 lots; scarce: absurdly called Grass 0/ Me ylncfes. May -July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



52. HOliCUS, L. (partly). Meadow. Soft-Gkass. 



Spikelets crowded in an open panicle, 2-flowered, jointed with the pedicels ; 

 the boat-shaped membranaceous glumes enclosing and much exceeding the re- 

 motish flowers. Lower flower perfect, but its papery or thin-coriaceous lower 

 palea awnless and pointless ; the upper flower staminate only, otherwise similar, 

 but bearing a stout bent awn below tlie apex. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to 

 the base. Grain free, scarcely grooved. (An ancient name, from 6\k6s, draught, 

 of obscure application.) 



1 H. lanAtus, L. (Velvet-Grass.) Soft-downy, pale ; panicle oblong 

 n'-4' long) " upper glume mucronate-awned under the apex; awn of the stam- 

 inate flower recurved. 1|. — Moist meadows ; scarce. June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



