T H K ( » K A S8 KS OK T K N N KHS K K. 2^i 



Two forms occur within the State : 



\'ar. (iKNUiN A. 



Culm leaves one to one and one-half lines wide, five to six of the 

 upper sheaths inflated, racemes one and one- fourth to one and one- 

 half inches lonjj:, spikelets about two and one-half lines lon^ and 

 the awn about an inch lonjj. Found in the valley of the Hiwas- 

 see by Prof. A. Ruth, September. 



Var. t.RAcii.ioR Hack. 



Culm leaves one-half line wide, only two to three of the upper 

 leaf-sheaths inflated, racemes about one inch lon^; spikelets one 

 and one-half to two lines long; awn one-half to three-fourths of 

 an inch long. This species is readily recognized by the inflated up- 

 per leaf-sheaths, from which project the long and slender pedun- 

 cles of the white-hairy racemes. The spathes proper are narrow 

 and closely wrapped around the peduncles. Apparently not very 

 common nor of any agricultural value. 



5. Andropogon Virginicus Linn. Broom-sedge. 



Plate in. Fifrure 10. 



A rigidly erect perennial, two to four feet high, with the culms flat- 

 tened near the base, and a narrow elongated and loosely-branched 

 panicle of silky-bearded racemes, which are for the most part ex- 

 ceeded by and partially enclosed within smooth spathe-like bracts. 

 Sheaths of the sterile shoots at the base strongly compressed- 

 keeled, their leaf-blades two to five inches long, and always more 

 or less folded; lower culm leaves six to twelve inches long, one to 

 two and one-half lines wide, usually flat and more or less long-pil- 

 ose towards the base. Panicle ten to twenty inches long, the 

 branches short and rather distant, the primary with two to five 

 nodes. Spathe one to two and one-half inches long, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, smooth. Racemes in pairs (rarely three to five) one- 

 half to one and one-half inches long, the common peduncle very 

 short (one to two lines), the very slender and more or less flexuose 

 rachis eight- to fifteen-jointed; joints and pedicels of the sterile 

 spikelets clothed with long plumose hairs. Primary and pedicel- 

 late spikelet reduced to a slender awn or wholly absent; the pedi- 

 cel about three lines long. Sessile spikelet narrow-lanceolate, one 

 and three-fourths to two lines long, about one-fourth longer than 

 the joints of the rachis, its callus with a few short hairs. First 

 glume depressed on the back between the two shj^rp keels, which are 

 aculeolate-scabrous above, apex narrow and minutely bimucronate; 

 second glume lanceolate, acute, one-nerved, keeled above, glab- 

 rous; third hyaline, narrowly oblong, obtuse, glabrous; fourth 

 hyaline, a little shorter than the third, awned between the short 

 and acute divisions of the bifid apex; awn slender, straight, live to 

 seven lines long. Palea minute. Stamen one. 



There is probably no native grass better known to our farmers 

 than this. Although when quite young it affords excellent 

 grazing and the mature plants may have some value for silage, it 

 is, on the whole, one of our worst weeds, rendering the formation 

 of permanent meadows very difficult. Constant tillage seems to be 

 the only means of keeping this grass from occupying the land. 



