GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 551 



tipper sheaths ; palea? rough-hairy, unequal, awl-pointed, 2-3 times as long as 

 the rough-keeled glumes and linear grain. (Agrottis aspera, Michx. A. clan- 

 destina, Spreng.) — Dry sandy soil, Florida, and northward. July and Aug. — 

 Culms 2° - 3° high. Sheaths hairy at the throat. 



2. V. vaginaeflora, Torr. Annual; culms low, clustered, bearing con- 

 cealed panicles at every joint, the terminal one partly exserted ; leaves short, 

 smoothish ; palea? ovate, smooth, one third longer than the smooth glumes and 

 oval grain. (Agrostis Virginica, Afuhl. Crypsis Virginica, Nutt.) — Dry bar- 

 ren soil, North Carolina, and northward. September. — Culms 6' -12' high. 

 Leaves 2' - 4' long. 



7. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Grass. 



Tufied usually tender grasses, with flat and narrow leaves ; the small 1 -flowered 

 spikelets racemose on the hair-like clustered branches of the open panicle, on 

 thickened pedicels. Glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the paleae. Palea? 2, 

 the lower one commonly awned on the back, 3-5-nerved, the upper 2-nerved, 

 occasionally minute or wanting. Stamens 1-3. Styles or stigmas 2. Grain 

 free. 



§ 1. TRICHODIUM. Upper palea minute or wanting , the lower aicnless, shorter 

 than the unequal acute rouyh-keded y/umes. 



1. A. elata, Trin. Culms stout, erect ; leaves flat (I"- 2" wide) ; branches 

 of the panicle flower-bearing above the middle. (A. dispar, Michx. ?) — Swamps, 

 North Carolina, Curtis. September. 1J. — Culms 2° -3° high. Panicles large 

 and diffuse. 



2. A. perennans, Gray. Culms slender, decumbent at the base ; leaves 

 flat (l"-2" wide) ; branches of the panicle short, flower-bearing from below 

 the middle ; spikelets whitish. (T. perennans, Ell.) — Swamps and river-banks, 

 Florida, and northward. July and Aug. 1J. — Culms l°-2° high. 



3. A. SCabra, Willd. Culms slender, erect; leaves short ; branches of the 

 panicle long, hair-like, hispid, bearing the purple spikelets near their summits. 

 (T. laxiflorum, Ell.) — Sterile soil, Florida, and northward. June and July. 

 <j) — Panicle usually as long as the culm. 



$ 2. AGROSTIS Proper. Upper palea manifest : the lower commonly awned on 



the back. 



4. A. alba, L. Culms ascending from a creeping base ; panicle spreading 

 in flower, contracted in fruit; glumes (whitish) nearly equal, rough-keeled; pa- 

 leae hairy at the base, the lower twice as long as the upper one, awnless or short- 

 awned. — Damp soil, Florida, and northward. Introduced. — Culms l°-3° 

 long. 



5. A. rupestris, All. Culms slender, erect; panicle small, oblong, with 

 erect smooth branches ; glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, rough-keeled ; lower 

 palea one third shorter than the glumes, short-awned below the middle, the upper 



one minute. — High mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July 



Culms 1° high. 



