60 MABSH GRASS. 



Prairie Triple Awn (Aristida oUgantha) is a species 

 found by Michaux on the prairies of Illinois, with a 

 straight, erect stem, branching below; spikelets large, 

 distant, solitary, alternate, short-pedicelled ; glumes 

 equalling the flower ; awns long, the lateral a little 

 shorter than the middle. Found also in Virginia and 

 to the south-westward. 



LoNG-AWNED Poverty Grass (Aristida tuberculosa). — 

 Stem branched below, tumid at the joints ; panicles 

 loose, branching in pairs, one of which is short and two- 

 flowered, the other longer and several-flowered ; glumes 

 longer than the palea, which is tipped with the common 

 stalk of the three bent awns, twisting together at the 

 base. It is found on sandy soils, from New England to 

 Wisconsin. It is one of the prairie grasses of Elinois 

 and southward. 



16. Spartina. Marsh Grass. 



Spikelets one-flowered, very flat, in two rows on the 

 outer side of a triangular rachis ; glumes compressed, 

 keeled, pointed and rough, bristly on the keel ; stamens 

 three ; styles long, united. 



Presh Water Cord Grass, or Tall Marsh Grass 

 (Spartina cynosuroides). — This is found on the banks 

 of streams and lakes, rising to the height of from two to 

 four feet, with slender culm, narrow leaves, two to four 

 feet long, tapering to a point, smooth except on the 

 margins ; spikes of a straw-color, five to fourteen in 

 number, spreading, glumes awn-pointed. Found in 

 Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Minne- 

 sota. Flowers in August. 



The Salt Reed Grass {Spartina polystachya) has a 

 Btoijt culm, from four to nine feet high ; broad leaves, 

 roughish underneath and on the margins ; spikes twenty 



