TRIAXDR1A, DIGYNIA, 61 



branched, when young upright, farther advanced, 

 nutant. Branches of the panicle in pairs or threes ; 

 the smaller branches scabrous. Cal. 2-vulved 

 acute less than the corolla, 5-flo\vered. Cor. 2- 

 valved equal obtuse nervose smooth. Stam. 3 

 and 2. anthers red. PuU 2. Seed ovate, brown, 

 shining. JJu/iI. 

 P. striata, Mich. 



In swamps and bops, rare. In the spongy swamps near 

 Kaiglm's point, where Fuirena Sqnarrosa grows. Perennial. 

 June. 



10. P. root somewhat cespitose and perennial ; culm cu«pidat«. 

 partly ancipital, about a foot high. Radical leaves 

 erect, long, and narrow ; leaves on the culm ge- 

 nerally '2, flat, oblong, lanceolate, scabrous only 

 on the margin, the lower about an inch long, the 

 upper just visible ; all erect and carinate, with a 

 coarctate pungent point ; stipula truncate, lacerate, 

 sometimes abruptly acuminate; sheaths long, but 

 a little shorter than the nodes. Panicle small, se- 

 miverticillate, alternate, horizontally spreading, 

 terminating in an almost simple raceme ; branch- 

 es capillary, mostly by twos or threes ; fasciculi 3 

 or 4. Spiculi crowded towards the extremities 

 of the ramifications, cuneate-ovate, or lanceolate, 

 before flowering somewhat acute, 3 or 4 flowered. 

 Calix smooth, inner valve acute. Corolla ovate 

 lanceolate, a little obtuse and scariose at the point, 

 villous at the base, obsoletely 5-nerved, 3 of the 

 lesser nerves ciliatelv pubescent below. Stamina 

 exserted, tremulous, bifurcate at either extremity. 

 Styles sessile, complicately plumose, white. Nutt. 



P. autumnalis, Elliot. 



P. flexuosa, Muhl. ? 



A very early flowering 1 grass, admirably described above. 

 Al I tliink the name autumnalis an inappropriate one, I have 

 proposed that of cuspidata, from the spit-pointed, or pungent 

 leaves- On the high rocks bordering the Sclniylkill at Le- 

 mon-hill, and also on those a mile south of the falls, frequent 

 April. 



7 



