T m : (in a ss k •; of T k n n kss i ; k. 69 



ratlicr few-llowered linear panicles. X(»dcs nnmerous, minutely pu- 

 bescent. Sheaths shorter or lonj^er than the internodes, thinly 

 pubescent; lij^'-ule one-lialf to one line lon^'; leaf-blade one and 

 one-half to four or five lines broad, five to six inches lonjj, 

 the lowermost much shorter, scabrous. Panicle six to twelve 

 inches longf, the branches sinj.(le or in pairs, erect. Spikelets 

 one and one-half lines loni,^ narrowly-lanceolate; empty j^jlumes 

 ovate, lanceolate-aculc, nearly ccpial, about one-half the length 

 of the llowerinor glume; flowering glume three-nerved, pilose at 

 the base, scabrous above, its apex continued into a slender awn 

 about four lines long. Palea about as long as its glume, pilose at 

 the base and nearly to the middle along the margins. 



Collected in the mountain region of East Tennessee by Dr. 

 Gattinger, and later by Prof. Ruth. August. 



21. BRACHYELYTRUM Beauv. Agrost. 39 (1S12). 



Spikelets onellowered, long and narrow, few on slender pedi- 

 cels in a contracted panicle; rachilla articulated above the 

 empty glumes, forming a short, usually smooth and rounded 

 callus below the flowering glume, and continued behind the palea 

 into a slender naked bristle. Glumes three, the first two empty, 

 very small; the third or flowering glume herbaceous, rigid, five- 

 nerved, continuous at the narrow apex into a long straight awn. 

 Palea two-nerved, about equalling the glume. Stamens two (or 

 three). vStyles short, distinct, stigmas elongated-plumose. Grain 

 oblong, enclosed within the fruiting glume and palea. 



A perennial grass with simple culms, flat leaves and a few-flow- 

 ered simple terminal panicle. 



Species one. North American. 



I. Brachyelytrum aristatum Heauv. Bearded Short-husk. 

 Plate XXII. Figure 86. 



Culms one to three feet high from a creeping rhizome, nodes 

 and sheaths downwardly pubescent; leaves lanceolate, three to six 

 inches long, six to seven lines wide. Empty glumes unequal, the 

 first very minute, flowering glume many nerved, lanceolate, four to 

 six lines long (exclusive of the straight awn), ciliate-scabrous along 

 the prominent nerves. Awn three-fourths to one inch long. Con- 

 tinuation of the rachilla behind the palea awn-like, appressed to the 

 palea, one-half to two-thirds as long as the spikelet. Dry rocky 

 woodlands. August. 



This grass is not infrequent in the open woods, and likely to at- 

 tract attention on account of its numerous rather broad and spread- 

 ing leaves, but nowhere does it offer any considerable amount of 

 forage, and it is not recognized as possessing any agricultural merit. 



22. PHLEUM. L. Sp. PI. 59 (1753)- 



Spikelets one-flowered, crowded in dense cylindrical spike-like 

 terminal panicles; rachilla articulated above the empty glumes, 

 not prolonged beyond the floret. Empty glumes two, compressed- 



