326 OHIO BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 



63. Sorghastrum Nash. Indian-grass. 



Tall stout perennial grasses with hollow stems, long narrow flat 

 leaves, and terminal open panicles. Spikelets in pairs, the sessile 

 spikelet with 1 perfect flower, the pedicellate spikelet vestigial ; empty 

 glumes of the sessile spikelet indurated and shining, flowering glumes 

 hyaline, the lemma usually awned ; palet sometimes wanting ; grain 

 free. 



1. Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash. Indian-grass. A large grass 

 with simple, erect hollow stems, 3-8 ft. high, and a narrowly oblong 

 panicle with slender, erect or spreading branches. Spikelets lanceo- 

 late, yellowish or reddish brown and shining, clothed especially 

 toward the base with fawn-colored hairs, at length drooping; lemma 

 with a twisted awn. 



A valuable pasture and hay grass. In dry soil especially prairies. 

 Aug., Sept. Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Wyandot, Auglaize, Frank- 

 lin, Madison, Adams. 



Erianthus ravennae (L.) Beam*. Plume-grass. A robust perennial grass, 

 with solid stems. 5-10 ft. high, with a plume-like, silky panicle, 1-2 ft. long. 

 Spikelets with 1 perfect flower and a sterile lemma, in pairs, one sessile, the other 

 pedicellate, with a ring of long hairs at the base. Cultivated for ornament. 



64. Miscanthus Anderss. Plume-grass. 



Tall erect perennials with flat leaves and ample terminal, com- 

 monly hairy panicles. Spikelets in pairs unequally pedicellate, with 

 1 perfect flower; empty glumes membranous, blunt at the apex; 

 sterile lemma thinner ; fertile lemma thinly hyaline, 2-toothed at the 

 apex and awned ; palet thin, hyaline ; grain free. 



1. Miscanthus sinensis Anderss. Chinese Plume-grass. A 

 large perennial grass with stems 3-9 ft. high, with long, slender 

 leaves and a panicle of numerous erect or ascending branches. 

 Spikelets yellowish brown, surrounded at the base with long, white 

 or purplish hairs ; lemma hyaline with a spirally twisted awn aris- 

 ing from between the two teeth of the apex. 



The variety with banded leaves is commonly cultivated for 

 ornament in gardens and parks and occasionally escapes into waste 

 places. Aug., Sept. An escape in Lake County. 



65. Andropogon L. Beard-grass, Bluestem. 



Tall usually tufted perennials with narrow leaves and terminal 

 and axillary racemes consisting of spike-like branches often more 

 or less digitately arranged and with long silky hairs on the rachis 

 and pedicels. Spikelets in pairs at each node of the jointed rachis 

 one sessile and bisporangiate, the other pedicellate and either stam- 



