612 



GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



& A. concinna, Tuckei-m., A. canina, var. alpina, Oahes, & Ed. 2., and essen- 

 tially A. rubra, L. ex Wahl, and A. borealis, Hartm.), is indigenous on 

 mountain-tops, Maine to New York; also, an ampler form in the Alleghanies 

 of Pennsylvania [J. R. Lowrie), and southward (A. rupestris, Chapman, &c.). 

 July -Aug. (Eu.) 



§2. AGROSTIS proper. Upper palet manifest, bui shorter than the lower. 



5. A. vulgaris, With. (Red-top. Herd's-Geass of Penn., &c.) Root- 

 stocks creeping ; culm mostly upright (l°-2°high) ; panicle oblong, with spread- 

 ing slightly rough short branches (purple) ; leaves linear, flat ; ligiile very short, 

 truncate ; lower palet nearly equalling the glumes, chiefly awnless, 3-nerved ; 

 the upper about one half its length. (A. polymdrpha, Huds., partly. — Varies 

 with a rougher panicle (A. hispida, Willd.), and rarely with the flower short- 

 awned. — Low meadows; naturalized from Eu., and apparently also native 

 northward. (Eu.) 



6. A. &Iba, L. (FiOKiN or White Bent-Grass.) Rootstocks more 

 stoloniferous, and culms often decumbent at the base, ascending; ligule elon- 

 gated, oblong or linear ; panicle contracted after flowering, either greenish, pur- 

 plish or brownish ; otherwise as in the preceding, and equally variable ; rarely 

 with the lower palet short-awned, or even slender-awned below the tip. (A. 

 stolonifera, L., partly.) — Meadows and fields, a valuable grass : nat. from Eu. : 

 also indigenous on river-banks, N. New York and northward. (Eu.) 



9. POLYPOGON, Desf. Beakd-Grass. (PI. 8.) 



Spikelets I -flowered, in a contracted, mostly spik«-like panicle. Glumes nearly 

 equal, long-awncd, much longei' than the membranaceous palets, the lower of 

 which is commonly short-awned below the apex. Stamens 3. Grain free. 

 (Name composed ofiroXu, much, and Trmytoi', beard ; from the awns.) 



1. P. MoNSPELiENSis, Desf. Panicle interrupted ; glumes oblong, the awn 

 from a notch at the summit ; lower palet awned ; root annual. Hampton Beach, 

 New Hampshire (Robbins), Virginia? and southward. (Nat. from Eu.) 



10. CINNA, L. Wood Reed-Grass. (PI. 8.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, much flattened, crowded in an open flaccid panicle. 

 Glumes lanceolate, acute, strongly keeled, rough-serrulate on the keel ; the 

 lower rather smaller, the upper a little exceeding the palets. Flower manifestly 

 stalked in the glumes, smooth and naked; the palets much like the glumes; 

 the lower longer than the upper, short-awned or mucronate on the back below 

 the pointless apex. Stamen one, opposite the 1-nerved upper palet ! Grain 

 linear-oblong, free. — A perennial, rather sweet-scented grass, with simple and 

 upright somewhat reed-like cnlms (2° -7° high), bearing an ample compound 

 terminal panicle, its branches in fours or fives ; the broadly linear-lanceolate 

 flat leaves (4''-6" wide) with conspicuous ligules. Spikelets green, often pur- 

 plish-tinged. (Name unexplained.) 



1. C. arundill&eea, L. — Moist woods and shaded swamps : rather com- 

 mon. July, Aug. — Panicle 6' - 15' long, rather dense ; the branches and pedi- 



