GKAPHEPHOETJM. 163 



2. T. Purpurea, Or ay (Sand Grass). Is found on 

 same soils as the above, from 6 inches to a foot high- 

 Acid to the taste. Flowers from August to Sep- 

 tember. 



3. T. Gornuta (Horned Sand Grass). Another 

 species found at the South. Of no agricultural 

 value. 



26. GRAPHEPHORUM— Desv. Dupontia, R. Be. 



GENEEIO CHAEACTEE. 



Spikelets 2 to 6-flowered, rather terete. Glumes 

 membranaceous, mostly nearly equalling the remote 

 flowers. A oluster of villous hairs at the base of 

 each flower. Palets thin and membranaceous or sca- 

 rious, the lower one convex, scarcely keeled, faintly 

 nerved, entire, pointless, and awnless. 4 Stamens 3. 

 Stigmas 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 Avense, but awnless ; named 

 from gr aphis, a pencil, and j)7iero, to bear, from the 

 tufts of hair at the base of the flowers. 



1. G. Melicoides, Beam. Stem 1 to 2 feet high. 

 Found at Grand Detour, Michigan, shore of Moose- 

 head lake, Maine, and northward. 



2. G. Major, Gray (Large G. Grass or Dupontia 

 Grass). Grows 2 to 3'feet high. Found in Macomb 

 county, Michigan. 



