180 LEPTUETJ3. 



lower convex on tlie back, many-nerved, tapering 

 into a mucronate point or bristle ; squamulse 3, longer 

 than the ovary ; stamens 3 ; grain oblong, free. Ar- 

 borescent or shrubbery grasses, simple or with fas- 

 cicled branches, and with large spikelets in panicles 

 or racemes, the flowers polygamous. , 



Name from arundo, a reed. 



1. Arundinaria Macrospirma (Large Cane). River 

 banks, S. Virginia, Kentucky, and southward, for- 

 ming cane-brakes ; the stems are extensively used 

 for fishing rods. 



2. A. Tecta (Small Cane). Swamps and moist 

 soil, Virginia, Illinois, and southward. 



42. LEPTURUS— R. Br. Leptu.etjs. 



GENERIC CHAEACTER, 



Spikelets solitary on each ioint of the filiform rha- 

 chis, and partly immersed in the excavation, 1 to 2- 

 flowered ; glumes 1 to 3, including the 2 tliin point- 

 less palets; stamens 3; grain free, oblong-linear, 

 cylindrical. Low and brandling, often procumbent 

 grasses, chiefly annuals, with narrow leaves and 

 slender spikes. 



Whence the name, from le-ptos, slender, and oyra, 

 a tail. 



1. L. Paniculatus (Slender Tail grass). Open 

 grounds and salt licks, Illinois and westward. Rare. 



