410 GRAMIXE.E. 



the glumes, awnless, truncate. Styles distinct. — Sj->ikt 

 very dense, cylindric. 



P. PRATENSE, L. Timothy. Herd's- Grass. 



Spilt cylindrical, elongated; plumes ciliale on the back, truncate, tipped with* 

 bristle less than half their lengrh. 



Meadows, Ac naturalized, and much cultivated. Culm 2 to 3 feet high, simple, 

 smooth. Leaves Bat. smooth and glaucuus. Spike green. Anther t purpushv 

 Eeteemed very valuable for hay. 



5. VILFA, Adans. Rush-Grass. 



SriKELETS 1-flowered, in a contracted or spiked panicle. 

 Glumes 1-nerved, earinate ; the lower one smaller. Palejs 

 2, much alike ; the lower one 1-nerved, rather acute, longer 

 than the glumes; the upper 2-keeled. Stamens most] 

 Stigmas simply feathery. Grain oblong or cylindrical, 

 deciduous. — Culms wiry or rigid: leaves involute^ their 

 sheaths often enclosing the lateral panicle. Flower nearly sessile in 

 the glumes. 



1. V. vagixjeflop.a, Torr. Hidden-flowered Ruth- Grass. 



Culms slender, ascending : leaves involute-awl-shaped ; parti let ?imple and spiked, 

 the lateral and often the terminal concealed An the sheaths; olumes equal, about 

 as I urge as the pslere. 



Sandy soils. Sept^ Oct Am. <" d !sis O out a foot high, tuftd. Lewes with 

 a slender point. Psttndt oblong I, few-flowered. Authors purple. 



2. V. aspera, Bc-auv. Rough-leaued Ry&- Grass, 



Locst haves very long, rigid, rough on :"•. to a loi g involute 



and fliform point; the upper ones short, in vol ir Inclosing the 



contracted panicle; jmlee mu6h long r than the unequal glomes. 



Sandy fields and dry hills. Sept. Gain 2 to 4 feet high, simple, terete. 7.*aw» 

 1 to 2 feet long. P;ni:le lateral and terminal. Police rough above, smooth of 

 hairy below, of greatly var.abie proportions. 



6 SPOKOBOLUS, R. Brown. Drop-seed Grass. 



Gr. spora, seed, and bcillo, to cast forth. 



Spikelets l-(rarely *2)-flowered, in a contracted or open 

 panicle. Flowers nearly as in Vilfa; the palece longer 

 than the unequal glumes. Stamens "2 or 3. Grain a 

 globular utricle, ccuitaiuing a loose seed, deciduous. 



S. junceus, Kunth. Rash-tike Drop-seal Orass. 



Leaves involute, narrow, rigid, the lowest elongated ; cu'm naked above, bearing 

 a narrow loose panicle ; glumes ovate, rather obtuse, ths lower one half aa long ai 

 the upper one. 



Dry soil. ang. Culm 1 to 2 feet bi^h. SpV.elets 1 to 2 line; long, ebining. 



