TlIK (iUASSKS (»K TKNNKSSKK. 71 



the base, abruptly acute, silky villous on the keels and shortly pi- 

 lose on the lateral nerves; flowering ^Mume nearly as lon^^ as the 

 emj3ty ones, awned on the back near or below the middle; awn 

 slender, slij^htly twisted and projecting beyond the j^dumes for 

 more than half its length. 



An introduced grass, native of Europe, regarded as valuable for 

 Hioist meadows and permanent pastures on account of its earli- 

 ness, blooming here in March and early April. It is very likely 

 deserving of more attention than it has so far received in this 

 State. 



2. Alopecurus geniculatus L. Marsh or Floating Foxtail. 

 Plate XXIII. Figure 89. 



A slender perennial, more or less decumbent, and branched at 

 the base, the lower joints geniculate, the stems finally ascending 

 or erect, six to twenty-four inches high, with rather short, spread- 

 ing, flat leaves and spike-like densely-flowered panicles, one to 

 three inches long. vSheaths smooth, the upper usually somewhat 

 inflated; ligule one to two lines long; leaf-blades smooth or a little 

 scabrous, the lower three to six inches long, the upper shorter, 

 one to three lines wide. Spikelets strongly compressed laterally, 

 oblong, about one line long; empty glumes rather obtuse, equal, 

 nearly distinct or only slightly connate near the base, silk}- hairy 

 on the keels and sparingly pilose on the sides; flowering glume a 

 little shorter than the outer ones, awned from near the base; awn 

 very slender, nearly twice as long as the glumes or (in variety 

 aristu'atus Torr.) scarcely equalling them. 



A native grass, growing in wet places, along ditches, etc. May 

 —July. 



24. SPOROBOLUS R. Br. Prodr. Flor. Nov. Holl. i: 169 (1810). 



Spikelets one-flowered, pedicellate, in narrow and spike like or 

 loose and spreading panicles ; rachiila articulated above the 

 empty glumes, not produced beyond the flower. Glumes three, 

 round on the back or slightly keeled, awnless, obscurely nerved 

 or nerveless. The two outer glumes empty, usually unequal; 

 third or floral glume equalling or exceeding the empty ones. Palea 

 as long as or longer than the flowering glume. Stamens three. 

 Styles short, distinct. Grain free, the pericarp loosely enclosing 

 the seed or very thin and evanescent. Annual or perennial 

 grasses with small spikelets, very various in habit. Species about 

 eighty, a few in the Old World, but most abundant in America. 

 Thirty-six species have been recorded from the United States, of 

 which the following have been observed in Tennessee. 



KEY 10 THE SPECIES. 



I. Panicle terminal, exserted, 6 to 18 inches long, the crowded 

 spikelets less than i line long 3. S. Indicus. 



I. Panicles terminal and lateral, i to 6 inches long, partly or 

 wholly enclosed within the leaf-sheaths; spikelets i to 

 23^2 lines lone 2 



