TiiK Gkassks ok Tknnksskk. 77 



5. Agrostis scabra Willd. Fly-away-jjjrass. 



riatr XW. V'v^uvr !>«.). 



An annual (?) erecl or somewhat j^eniculate at the lower joints, 

 six inches to two and one-half feet hij^h. Sheaths striate, smooth 

 or scabrous; li^ule one to two lines lonjj; leaf-blade erect or 

 ascendirjr, one-half to three-fourths of a line wide, two to four inches 

 long", conduplicate when dry, scabrous especially on the margins 

 and upper surface. Panicle long- and lax, the capillary primary 

 branches two to eight at a node, branched above the middle; the 

 spikelets clustered toward the ends of the ultimate branches. 

 iMiipty glumes lanceolate, acute, with scabrous keel, about three- 

 fourths of a line long, the upper one a little shorter than the lower. 

 Flowering glume rather faintly-nerved, shorter than the empty 

 glumes, awnless or very rarely awned on the back. Palea none. 

 A common grass in dry and sterile, as well as in moist rich lands. 

 It is the earliest to bloom among our species of Agrostis, flowering 

 in April and May. The delicate hair-like branches of the panicle, 

 which are at first erect or ascending, become widely spreading at 

 maturity, and the entire panicle breaks away from the slender 

 culm and is blown about by the wind. Before the panicle has ex- 

 panded this grass is sometimes gathered by poor people in the 

 vicinity of large towns and sold under the name of "silk-grass," 

 for dry bouquets. This grass is very properly classed with the 

 weeds. 



Ck Agrostis rubra Linn. var. Americana. (A. rupestris Chapman 

 not All.) 



Plate XXV. Figure KM). 



A low, alpine perennial, six to twelve inches high, with a short 

 creeping root-stock. Sheaths striate, smooth; ligule one-half to 

 one line long, decurrent; leaf-blade conduplicate or flat, smooth or 

 with subscabrous margins, one line or less wide, two to five inches 

 long. Panicle pyramidal, two to three inches long; primary 

 branches three to six on the lower node, usually in pairs above. 

 Empty glumes subequal, one and one-half lines long, smooth, or 

 the lower hispid on keel above, lanceolate, usually purple. Flow- 

 ering glume a little less than one line long, ovate, with a truncate 

 tip, awned on the back below the middle, awn twice as long as the 

 spikelet, somewhat twnsted and geniculate. Near the summit of 

 Roane mountain. July — August. 



7. Agrostis canina L 



A rather slender perennial, twelve to twenty-four inches high, 

 erect or geniculate at the lower joints. Sheaths nearly smooth; 

 ligule about one and one-half lines long; leaf-blade flat or condu- 

 plicate, two to four inches long, one and one half lines wide; sca- 

 brous, acute. Panicle pyramidal, four to six inches long; primary 

 branches unequal, five to twelve on the lower node of the axis, the 

 ultiniate branches in pairs or several together and apparently 

 verticillate. Spikelets near the ends of the branches, about one 

 and one-fourth lines long. Empty glumes nearly equal, narrowly 

 lanceolate, verv acute, more or less scabrous on the keels; flower- 



