T Hi: ( i K A ss K.s u F T K N N I :ss I : I :. 81 



Species about ei^ht, in Europe and Africa; one species, often 

 cultivated in meadows and lawns, has become widely dispersed. 



I. Holcus lanatus I. inn. \'elvet-^rass or White Timothy. 

 IMat.' XXVII. FiRuro 1(K5. 



A perennial ^rass, one to two feet hi^h. from acreepinj.^ rhi/ome, 

 usually closely pubescent all over with soft, whitish hairs. Pan- 

 icle two to three inches lonjj, pale or sometimes purple-tinged. 

 vSpikelets about two lines long, obtuse; the second empty glume 

 broader than the first, three-nerved and often short- awned at the 

 a])ex, both ciliate on the prominent keels and thinly pubescent all 

 over; lower floral glume smooth and shining, becoming indurated 

 in fruit. May — June. 



This European grass is found here and there over the State, 

 having been introduced with the seed of other grasses. Owing to 

 its light color it is striking in appearance, and is said to be a 

 valuable grass for light thin soils which are unsuited to the 

 growth of more valuable sorts. It should only be sown in mix- 

 tures. 



29. DESCHAMPSIA Beauv. Agrost. 91, t. 18, f. 3. (1812). 



Spikelets two- (rarely) three-flowered, in terminal panicles; 

 rachilla hairy, articulated above the empty glumes and produced 

 beyond the upper floret as a hairy bristle. Empty glumes two, 

 thin and scarious, lanceolate-acute, nearly equal; flowering glumes 

 subhyaline, truncate, and more or less regularly two- to four- 

 toothed, awned on the back. Awn slender, twisted below. Palea 

 narrow, two-nerved. Grain oblong, included within the floral 

 glume and palea, but free from them. Perennials, with flat or con- 

 volute leaves, and rather small, shining spikelets in terminal nar- 

 row or spreading panicles. 



Species about twenty, in the cold and temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere and on the high mountains within the trop- 

 ics. One in Australia. North American species eight, of which 

 one is found within the State. 



I. Deschampsia flexuosa Trin. Hair-grass. 

 Plate XXVII. Figure 107. 



A slender, erect perennial about two feet high, with involute 

 bristle-form, mostly radical leaves, and diffuse panicles. Culms 

 smooth, naked above. Branches of the panicle capillary, flexuose. 

 Empty glumes about as long as the florets; flowering glumes two 

 lines long, hairy at the base. Awn twisted and geniculate, ex- 

 ceeding the glumes in length. Palea as long as its glume. 



Observed on Roane and Lookout mountains. May and June. 

 Of no agricultural value. 



30. TRISETUM Pers. Syn. I. 97. (1805.) 

 Spikelets two- (rarely three- or five-) flowered, in narrow and 



