C02 GftAMINE^. (grass TAMILT.) 



t'Ze spikes 1 or 2, qfteh solitary, (The two following are very much alike ; and 

 one or the other is doubtless C. miliaris, Michx. The first is regarded by 

 Andersson as an extreme form of C. ampuUacea, the second of C. vesicaria. ) 



149. C. rotund&ta, Wahl. ? Leaves and bracts involute, smoothish ; fertile 

 spikes oblong or cylindraceous, or the upper ovate or globular ; perigynia short- 

 ovate, about the length of the broadly ovate (obtuse, or in our specimens acute 

 or pointed) scale. — Gravel-bars at the outlet of Moosehead Lake, N. Maine, 

 C. E. & A. H. Smitli. — The specimens are a foot high, with one leaf on the 

 obtusely angular culm, and only the lowest spike leafy-bracted ; sterile spike 

 single- the fruit not fully formed. (Eu.) 



150. C. ptllla, Good. Leaves and bracts flat, with a slender triangular 

 apex, rough-margined ; culm rather sharply triangular ; perigynia inflated- 

 ovate, mostly longer than the ovate scale. (C. saxStilis, L., but that was in 

 part C. rigida ; the name is appropriate for that but not for this species, and is 

 better discarded altogether.) (Eu.) — Var. ? miliAris. Culm more slender, 

 1° or more high ; fertile spikes paler (1-3), ovoid or oblong, in our specimens 

 staminate at the apex, each with a very rough leafy bract, the lowest often sur- 

 passing the culm. (C. miliaris, Michx.) — Outlet of Moosehead Lake, with or 

 near the preceding, July 29, C. E. & A. H. Smith; and far northward. 



■•- H- Pengynia abruptly contracted into a very long and 2-toothed beak. 

 1.51. C. longirostris, Torr. Sterile spikes usually 3, at the summit of 

 a long slender stalk ; the lower often bearing some fertile flowers ; fertile spikes 

 2-4, cylindrical, more or less distant, on long filiform at length drooping stalks, 

 loosely flowered ; perigynia globose-ovoid, smooth and shining, abruptly con- 

 tracted into a slender cylindrical beak, which is longer than the body, rough on 

 the margin, and 2-cleft at the membranaceous orifice, a little longer than the 

 lanceolate light-colored or white scale. (C. Sprengelii, Z)e«i.) — Shady rocks, 

 N. New England to Wisconsin, and northward. 



Order 128. GRAMINEJE. (Grass Family.) 



Grasses, with usually hollow stems (culms) closed ai the joints, alternate 2- 

 ranked leaves, their sheaths split or open on the side opposite the blade ; the 

 hypogynous flowers imbricated with 2-ranked glumes or bracts : the outer 

 pair {glumes proper) subtending the spikelet of one or several flowers; 

 the inner pair {palecB or palets) enclosing each particular flower, which is 

 usually furnished with 2 or 3 minute hypogynous scales (sguamulce, Juss., 

 lodiculce, Beauv.). Stamens 1-6, commonly 3 : anthers versatile, 2-celled, 

 the cells distinct. Styles mostly 2 or 2-parted : stigmas hairy or feathery. 

 Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, forming a seed-like grain (caryopsis) in fruit. 

 Embryo small, on the outside and at the base of the floury albumen. — 

 Roots fibrous. Sheath of the leaves usually more or less extended above 

 the base of the blade into a scarious appendage (ligule'). Spikelets pani- 

 cled or spiked. Inner (upper) palet usually 2-nerved or 2-keeled, enclosed 

 or partly covered by the outer (lower) palet. Grain sometimes _/ree from, 



