508 FLORA OF TEXAS. 



glumes, commonly hairy at the base, deciduous with the 

 inclosed grain, the lower one 3-nerved and mucronate or 

 awned at the apex ; stamens 3. 



MuHLENBERGiA proper. Spikelets conimonly much crowded, in lateral and termi- 

 nal panicles, short-stalked; culms branching ; leaves flat. 



M. WiLLDENOVii, Trin. Culms sparingly branched, 

 erect; panicles linear; sjjikelets scattered; j^alecB twice as 

 long as the nearly equal short-pointed ghimes, the lower 

 one with an awn 3-4 times as long as the spikelet. (Agros- 

 tis tenuiflora, Willd.) Dry rocky soil. July and August. 

 Culms 3° high. 



^ M. DIFFUSA, Schreb. Culms diffusely branched, low; 

 panicles long and slender; glumes very small, the upper 

 one truncated ; atvn of the palea twice as long as the spike- 

 let. Shaded waste places. August and September. Culms 

 l°-li° high. 



STIPA, L. Feather Grass. 



Perennial grasses, wdth convolute leaves, and loose pani- 

 cles of 1-flowered spikelets, with very long awns; glumes 2, 

 membranaceous, nearly equal, awnless and persistent; j!?«/f op 

 coriaceous, involute, raised on an obconical bearded stalk, 

 the lower one with a twisted or contorted awn jointed with 

 its apex ; stamens 3 ; grain terete, inclosed in the paleae. 



S. AYEXACEA, L. Culms (l°-2° high) clustered; leaves 

 narrowly linear, rough, the lowest elongated ; aivn pubes- 

 cent, bent in the middle, many times longer than the dark- 

 brown palea. Dry soil. April. 



ARISTIDA, L. Wire Grass. 



Dry and harsh peremiial grasses, growing in barren soil, 

 with narrow leaves, racemose or spihed-jyanicled 1-flowered 

 spikelets nearly as in Stipa, but the lo?ver palea ending in 

 a triple awn, which is continuous with its apex ; vpper 

 palea minute ; gi^ain linear. 



