774 Obder 156.— GRAMINE^. 



Its. lanoe-linear, flat, clustered, 1 — 2' long, 2 — 3" wide; "spike eolitaiy, axil- 

 lary, setaceous, about 4-flowered ; palese awnless ; stig. 2, very long ; fr. reni- 

 form." — y Water, S. Car. to Fla. and Li (Hale, whose specimens are without 

 fls. or fruit.) (Hydrococliloa, Palis. Hydropyrum, Kunth.) 



4. AGROS'TIS, L. Bent Grass. (Gr. aypog, a field; growing in 

 fields and pastures.) — Spikes 1-flowered ; glumes 2, subequal, awnless, 

 usually longer than the flower ; pales 2, thin, pointless, naked, the lower 

 3 — 5-veined, sometimes awned on the back, the upper often minute or 

 wanting; grain free. — 2f mostly, and ceespitous, with slender culms 

 and an open panicle. 



§ Agrostis proper. Upper pnlca ^ to f as long as the lower. Fls. rather dense Nos. 1, 9 



§ TKicnODiuM. Upper palea minute or wanting. Panicle thin, i*) 



* Lower palea with ft long exserted awn on the back. .Nos. 8, 4 



* Lower paleffi awnless, or bearing a very short awn . .Nos. 5, 6 



1 A. vulgaris With. Red Top. Dew Grass. Herd's Geass of the S. States. 

 Culm erect, 1 — 2f high ; ' panicle purple, oblong, with short, spreading or divari- 

 cate, roughish branches ; Ivs. linear, with very short ligules (sometimes the upper 

 one elongated) ; lower pale twice as large as the upper, and nearly as long as the 

 lanceolate, acute glumes, rattstly awnless. — U. S. and Can. A very valuable 

 grass spread over hUls, vales and meadows, forming a soft, dense turf. Variable. 

 (A. polymorpha Huds. A. pumila L. A. hispida WiUd.) 



2 A. dlba L. 'Whitb Bent. English Bent. ' Bonnet Grass. Florin Grass. 

 Culm decumbent, geniculate, rooting at the lower joints and sending out stolons; 

 Ivs, linear, smooth, those of the stolons erect and somewhat subulate ; ligules long, 

 membranous ; panicle dense, narrow and contracted after flowering, greenish white 

 or slightly purplish ; lower pale 5-veined, rarely awned. — A common and valuable 

 grass in old fields and drained swamps. It is quite variable in aspect. § Eur. 

 (A. stolouifera L. A decumbens Mulil.) 



§. STBiCTA. Lower pale with an awn from its base twice longer than itself 



(A. striata "Wilid.) 

 y. DISPAR. Southern Bent. Larger (2 — 3f high) in all its parts ; outer pale 



obtusely 3-toothed. Much valued in some parts of the S. States. (A. dis- 



par Mx. ? Kunth.) 



3 A. canlna L. Brown Bent. Dog'S'Bent. Culm rooting at the lower nodes, 

 slender, somewhat branched, about 2f high ; Ivs. setageous involute, the upper 

 linear ; panicle diffuse, ovoid, at length brownish, iramches roitgh, diverging, dividing 

 beyond their middle ; glumes subequal, shorter than the lower pale which beai's 

 a long awn a little below the middle of the back ; upper pale minute. — Wet mead- 



, ows, E. States, rare. § Eur. 



|8. ALPiNA. Culms low, in small tufts, with contracted panicles, nearly smooth, 

 purplish; awn twisted. — Mts.„ IT. States. (A. Pickeringii Tuckm.) 



4 A. arachnoldes Ell. Culm erect, slender, 5 — 8' high ; paniculate more than 

 kalf its length ; Ivs. linear-setaceous, 1 — 3' long ; panicle narrow, brandies capil- 

 lary, floriferous half their length; glumes green, ovate, acute, J'' long, equal; 

 pale a little shorter, bearing on its back above the middle a contorted awn 5 or 6 

 times longer than itself, and as fine as a gossamer. — Car. to Ga. (Feay). The awns, 

 from their fineness, can hardly be seen without a lens. Apr. 



5 A. Bcabra Willd. Rough Hair Grass. Thin Grass. Culms tufted, erect 

 from a decumbent vase, very slender, 1 — 2f high; Ivs. linear, 3 — 6' long, rough, 

 tlie radical involute-setaceous; ligule oblotfg, obtuse; panicle large, with long, 

 capillary, erect, or divergent, scabrous-hispid whorled branches, trichotomously 

 divided near the end; spikelets in terminal clusters, at length purplish; glwmes 

 lance-linear, acuminate, scabrous-hispid on the keel.— Fields and pastures, U. S. 

 and Brit. Am. Remarkable ibr its thin and airy panicles which are at length 

 driven before the wind. Jn., Jl. (T. laxiflorum Mx. T. montanum Torr.) 



p. obe6phila. Culm 6— 12«:.high, simple, panicle less diffuse; pale with a 



short, twisted awn at its back. — Mts. Snd rocky woods. (A. montana Tuckm.) 



-. y. PEsiNNANS. Panicle pale green, branches shorter, floriferous more than 



half their length.— In damp shades. (T. scabrum MuhL A. soabfa, ed. 2d.) 



