GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 611 



palcts. (Agr. & Vilfa serotina, I'orr. V. t(?nera, Trin. Poa ? uniflora, Miihl. 

 P. mod(Ssta, Tuckerm.) — Sandy wet places, Maine to New Jersey and Michigan. 

 Sept. — A very delicate grass ; the spikelets half a line long. 



8. AGRbSTIS, L. Eent-Gkass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in an open panicle. Glumes somewhat equal, or the 

 lower rather longer, usually longer than the palets, pointless. Palets very thin, 

 pointless, naked ; the lower 3 - 5-nerved, frequently awned on the back ; the 

 upper often minute or none. Stamens chiefly 3. Grain (caryopsis) free. — 

 Culms usually tufted, slender ; root commonly perennial. (Name from aypos, 

 u Jield, the place of growth.) 



§ 1, TRICHODIUM, Michx. — Upper palet abortive, minute, or none. 



1. A. elkta, Trin. Culms firm or stoui (2° -3° high); leaves flat (l"-2" 

 wide) ; upper ligules elongated (2" -3" long) ; spikelets crowded on the branches 

 of the spreading panicle above the middle (1^" long) ; lower palet awnless, slightly 

 shorter than the rather unequal glumes ; the upper wanting. (A. Schweini'tzii, 

 Trin.? A. altissima, Tuckerm., excl. var. la.xa. Trich. elatum, Pursh.) — 

 Swamps, New Jersey and southward. October. 



2. A. per^nnans, Tuckerm. (Thin-Grass.) Culms slender, erect from 

 a decumbent base (l°-2° high) ; leaves flat (the upper 4'-6' long, l"-2"wide) ; 

 panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green ; the branches short, divided and 

 flower-bearing from or below the middle; lower palet awnless (rarely short-awnedj, 

 shorter than the unequal glumes ; the upper minute or obsolete. (Cornucopioe 

 perennans, Walt. Trich. perennans. Ell. T. deeumbens, Michx. T. scabrum, 

 Muhl. Agr. andmala, Willd.) — Damp shaded places. July, Aug. — Spikelets, 

 &c. as in No. 3, into which it seems to vary. 



3. A. scd,bra, Willd. (Haik-Grass.) Culms very slender, erect (1°- 2° 

 high) ; leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper 1' -3' long, 

 less than 1" wide); panicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary 

 branches flower-bearing at and near the apex ; lower palet awnless or occasionally 

 short-awned on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute glumes ; the 

 upper minute or obsolete ; root biennials (A. laxiflora, iJicAard. A. Michauxii, 

 Trin. partly. Trich. laxiflorum, Michx. T. montanum, Torr. ) — Exsiccated, 

 places : common. June- Aug. — Remarkable for the long and divergent capil- 

 lary branches of the extremely loose panicle ; these are whorled, rough with 

 very minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 

 I'long. — A variety? from about the White Mountains, &c. (var. montana, 

 Tuckerm.), has a more or less exserted awn, thus differing from the T. monta- 

 num, Torr. (A. oredphila, Trin.), which ia a dwarfed form, growing in tufts in 

 hollows of rocks, &c. 



4. A. canlna, L. (Bkown Bent-Grass.) Culms 8' -2° high; root- 

 leaves involute-bristle-form, those of the culm flat and broader; panicle loose; 

 glumes slightly unequal, ovate-lanceolate, very acute ; palet exsertly awned on 

 the back at or below the middle ; spikelets brownish or purplish, rarely pale or 

 greenish (I"-lJ" long). — Meadows, sparingly naturalized eastward. A 

 mountain form with shorter and more spreading panicle (A. Picken'ngii 



