CHAPTER III. 



NATURAL OEDEE GEAMINE^ (GEASS FAMILT). 



1. LEERSIA,— Solander. White Geass. 



GENEEIC CHAEACTEE. 



Flowers crowded in one sided panlcled spikes or 

 racemes, perfect, but those in the open panicles 

 nsually sterile by the abortion of the ovary, those 

 enclosed in the sheaths of the leaves close fertilized 

 in the bud and prolific. Spikelets, 1 flowered, flat, 

 more or less imbricated over each other, pointed with 

 the short pedicHs. Glumes wanting, palets texture 

 of paper, or parchment, strongly jflattened laterally 

 or folded upon themselves lengthwise, awnless, 

 bristry ciliate on the keels, closed, nearly equal in 

 length, but the lower much broader, enclosing the 

 flat grain. Stamens 1 to 6, stigmas feathery, the 

 hairs branching. Perennial marsh grasses ; the flat 

 leaves, sheaths, &c., rough upwards, being clothed 

 with very minute hooked prickles. 



(Named from Leers, a German botanist.) 



1. Leeesia, Virginica (White Grass), Virginia 

 Cut Grass. Grows in wet wwods ; flowers in August 

 and September ; of no agricultural value. 



