624 graminejE. (grass family.) 



1. T. seslerioides, Torr. (Tall Red-top.) Perennial; culm upright 

 (3° -5° high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves ; panicle large and compound, 

 the rigid capillary hranches spreading, naked below ; spikelets very numerous, 

 5 - 7-flowered, shining, purple (4" long) ; the flowers hairy toward the base. 

 (Poa flava, L. ! P. seslerioides, Michx. P. quinque'fida, Pursh. Windsoria, 

 poaefdrmis, Nutt. Uralepis ciiprea, Kunth.) — Dry or sandy fields, S. New York 

 to Illinois and southward. Aug. — A showy grass, with the spreading panicle 

 sometimes 1° wide. Points of the lower palet almost equal, scarcely exceeding 

 the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. 



§ 2. TRIPLASIS, Beauv. (Diplbcea, Eaf. Uralepis, Nutt.) Glumes much 

 shorter than the somewhat remote flowers : both palets strongly fringe-bearded ; the 

 lower 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the trun- 

 cate or awn-pointed divisions. 



2. T. purpttrea, Gray. (Sand-Gbass.) Culms many in a tuft from the 

 same annual root, ascending (6'- 12' high), with numerous bearded joints; 

 leaves involute-awl-shaped, mostly short; panicles very simple, bearing few 2- 

 5-flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually exserted, the axillary ones included 

 in the commonly hairy sheaths ; awn much shorter than the palet, seldom exceed- 

 ing its eroded-truncate or obtuse lateral lobes. (Aira purphrea, Walt. Diplbcea 

 barb^ta, Raf. Uralepis purpurea and U. aristulata, Nutt. ) — In sand, Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia along the coast, and southward : also Lake Erie, near 

 Buffalo, G. W. Clinton. Aug., Sept. — Plant acid to the taste. 



(T. cOENtiTA (Uralepis cornuta. Ell., and Triplasis Americana, Beauv.!) 

 may perhaps extend north to the borders of Virginia. ) 



26. GBAPHEPHORUM, Desv. <Dup6NTiA,R.Br.) (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 2 - 5-flowered, rather terete. Glumes membranaceous, mostly nearly 

 equalling the remote flowers. A cluster of villous hairs at the base of each 

 flower. Palets tliin and membranaceous or scarious ; the lower one convex, 

 scarcely keeled, faintly nerved, entire, pointless and awnless. Stamens 3. Stig- 

 mas plumose. Ovary glabrous. — Perennial and northern or arctic grasses, 

 with linear flat leaves, their sheaths closed at the base, the spikelets in a loose 

 panicle. ( Genus allied to the Avencie, but awnless ; named from ypa(j>is, a pen- 

 cil, and <p£pa>, to bear, from the tufts of hair at the base of the flowers.) 



1 . G. melicoides, Beauv. Culm 1 ° - 2° high ; leaves roughish ; panicle 

 open ; glumes unequal, lanceolate, their midrib and the pedicels rough ; joints 

 of the rhachis unilaterally bearded between the 2-4 flowers. Grand Detour, 

 Upper Michigan, Prof. Porter, Riviere du Loup, E. Canada, Dr. Pickering, 

 and northward : rare. — Var. mIjok, Gray (Dupontia Cooleyi, of former ed.), 

 is a luxuriant form, 2° -3° high, with ampler panicle; found on the borders 

 of a swamp, "Washington, Macomb County, Michigan, by Dr. Cooley. Aug. 



27- DIARBHENA, Raf Diarehexa. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost 

 flowei-s sterile. Glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous ; the 

 lower one much smaller. Lower palet ovate, convex on the back, rigidly cori- 



