GRAMINE*. 



431 



45. ANDHOPOGON, Linn. Beard Grass. 



<Jr. ancr, aman, and pogon, a beard, in allusion to the hairy flowers. 



Spikelets in pairs upon each joint of the slender racliis, 

 spiked or raccmed. Lower flower staminate or neutral, 

 the glumes and palea very minute or wanting. Upper flow- 

 er perfect. Glumes aimless. Palea '2, shorter than the 

 glumes ; lower one mostly awned. Stamens 1 to 3. Grain 

 free. — Coarse and rough perennial Grasses, with lateral or 

 terminal spikes commonly cindered or digitate, the rachis hairy or 

 plumose bearded. 



1. A. FURCATUS, Muhl. Forked Beard- Grass. 



Spiles digitate, mostly in threes or fours; lower flower staminate, awnless; awn 

 •«f th« perfect flower bant. 



Sterile soils, common. Sept. Culm 3 to 4 foot high. Leaves fiat, the lower very 

 long. Spikes 3 inches long, 3 to -5 at the naked summit of the culm. 



2. A. SCOPARIUS, Miebz. Purple Beard-Grass. 



Spi'.es simple, IsTteral and terminal, pedunculate, in pairs; lower flower neutral, 

 awned ; glumes of the perfect flower smooth : awn twisted. 



Old fields and roadsides. Aug. Culm 3 to 4 feet high, slender, with many pan- 

 iculate branches. Leaves flat, hairy. Sjftlsesim a Sexnous rachis, often purple. 



3. A. Yirginicus, L. Virginian Beard-Grass. 



Culm fiattish below, sparingly Short-branched above; sheaths smooth; spikes 2 or 

 -3 together in distant appressed clusters. 



Sandy soil. Sept. Calms about 3 feet high, somewhat tufted. Leaves a foot or 

 \aa ro long. Spi.. cs 1 inch long, partly concealed in sheaths. 



46. SORGHUM, Pers. Broom-Corx. 



The Asiatic name of a cultivated species. 



Spikelets 2 or 3 together on the branches of an open 

 panicle, the lateral ones .sterile or often reduced merely to 

 their pedicels ; the middle or terminal one only fertile, its 

 glumes coriaceous or indurated, sometimes awnless. PALEiS 

 -3 ; the upper one awned. Stamens 3. 



1. S. NUTANS, Gray. Indian Grass. Wood Grass. 



Panicle narrowly oblong, rather crowded, the perfect spikelets at length droop- 

 ing, clothed near the base with fawn-colored hairs, -horter than the twisted awn 

 sterile spikelets email and very imperfect, or reduced to a mere plumose -hairy ped- 

 icel. 



Dry soil. Ang. Per, Culm simp'e, 3 to 5 feet high, terete. Leaves linear-lance- 

 olate, glaucous. Panicle to 12 inches long, the spiiieieis bright russet brown 

 and shining. 



2. S. SACCHARATUM, L. Broom Com. 



Culm 6 to 10 feet high, thick, solid with pith; leaves lanceolate, acuminate, pu- 

 bescent at base; psuiiois large, dhlase, with long verticillate at length drooping 



