QRAMINB4S. 417 



keeled. Stamens 3. Styles very shovt.— Perennials, 

 with simple and tufted culms, often downy sheaths, mid contracted 

 or spike- like panicles. 



Sec. i. Kt.leiu.y proper. — Spikelets 3 to 7-flowered, crowded in a dense and nar- 

 row spike-like panicle. 



1. K. CRISTATA, Pers. Crested Koeleria. 



Panicle narrowly spiked, interrupted at the base; spilcelets 2 to 4-flowered; lower 

 palea acute, often mucronate-point*' 1. 



Dry grounds or hills. Juno. Culm 2Q to ?0 inches high, smooth, leafy to one- 

 half Its height. Leaves fiat, erect, pubescent, 2 to 3 inches long. Sheaths smooth 

 or downy. 



Sec. ii. ReboulbA, Kunth.— S'piJ.ehis usually 2-flowered, and with an abortive 

 rudiment or pedicel, in a contracted or slender panicle. 



2. K. Pennsylvania, DC. Penmylvanian Kceleria*. 



Panicle long and slender, rather loose, the racemose branches somewhat elonga- 

 ted: upper glume obovate, barely obttuse; lower palea rough. 



Moist woods and meadows. May, June. Citlm about 2 feet high, simple. Leaves 

 6hort. flat. Panicle 4 to 8 inches long, verv slender with yellowish-green spikelets* . 

 Varies with a larger and fuller panicle, with the aspect of Cinna. 



21. MELICA, Linn. Melic-Grass. 



An old name from meli, honey. 



Spikelets 2 to 5-fiowered, the 1 to 3 upper flowers im- 

 perfect and dissimilar, convolute around each other. Glumes 

 usually large, 2-valved, unequal, the upper 7 to 9-nerved. 

 Pale.e membranaceeous, unarmed. Stamens E. Stio-- 

 MAS branched plumose. — Leaves flat and soft. Panicle sim- 

 ple or sparingly branched. 



M. speciosa, Muhl. Showy SMic- Grass. 



Smooth; panicle lcose, erect, with a few spikelets on each branch, each spikelet 

 containing 2 perfect flower* and a stalked rudiment composed of 3 abortive ones; ; 

 glumes and palea very obtuse. 



Rich soil. June. Per. Calm 3 to 4 foet high. SpUcelets % inch long. 



22. BRTZA, Linn. Quaking Grass. 



Gr. brizo, to nod or hang down ; alluding to the pendulous spikelets. 



Spikelets many-flowered, ovate or heart-shaped. Glumes 

 roundish, unequal, purple. Pale^e inflated ; lower one 

 cordate at base, embracing the upper, which is nearly round 

 and much shorter. Stamens 3. Stigmas branched plu- 

 mose. Grain flattened. — Leaves flat. Panicle loose, with 

 the large and showy spikelets often drooping on delicate spikelets. 



B. media, L. Common Quaking Grass. 



Panicle erect, the branches spreading; spikelets 5 to 9-flowered, heart-shaped; 

 ▼hen old. 



Meadows; naturalized. June. Per. Culm 3 to 4 feet high* 



