690 FLORA OF TEXAS. 



§ Cabex proper. Stigmas 3 ; nut 3-anglcd ; spikes 2 or more. 



* Spikes moncecious ; terminal spikes sterile below, fertile above ; iJie others chiefly 

 fertile. 



t Perigynia leafless. 



Xt Spikes remote, linear or cylindrical, rather loosely flowered, on long and mostly 

 drooping peduncles ; bracts long and leaf-like ; perigynia smooth, somewhat inflated, 

 few and faintly nerved. 



C. oxYLEPis, ToiT. and Hook. Spikes 4-5, linear, all on 

 long bristle-like partly included nodding peduncles, dis- 

 tant: per if/i/iiia ohlong, acute-angled, emargiiiate at the 

 pointed apex, longer than the lanceolate rough-pointed 

 white scale. Low ground. Culms slender, 14-°-2° high, 

 the lower part, like the leaves and sheaths, pubescent. 



0. GRACiLLiiiA, Schw. Spi'kes 3-5, distant, linear, on 

 slender and nodding peduncles ; j^erigynia oblong, obtuse, 

 entire and oblique at the orifice, about twice as long as the 

 oblono^ obtuse short-awned scale. Wet lands. Culm l°-2° 

 high ; spikes I'-IJ' long, thicker than those of the preced- 

 ing; sheaths ^Ti\ooX]i. 



Spikes cylindrical or oblong, densely many-flowered ; perigynia ovate or roundish, 



C. Cherokeexsis, Schk. Sterile spikes 2-4, slender; fer- 

 tile spikes 5-15, often 2-3 from the same sheath, oblong or 

 cylindrical, sterile at the summit, all on long and nodding 

 peduncles ; perigijnia whitish, oblong, compressed-3-angled, 

 short-beaked, with the orifice membranaceous and ob- 

 liquely 2-cleft, longer than the oblong acute scale ; stigmas 

 elongated. — Plant whitish ; culms l°-2° high, smooth, like 

 the linear leaves. 



153. GRASS FAMILY, Order, Gramine^. 



Chiefly herls ; stem {culm) mostly hollow and with 

 closed joints; leaves alternate, 2-ranked, narrow and en- 

 tire ; sheaths open or split on one side, and usually pro- 

 longed into a membranaceous or fringed appendage (ligula) 

 at the base of the hlada ; Jfoiccrs in spiked or panicled 



