GRAMINK^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 559 



2. Ii. dubia, Nees. Culms 2° high, slender ; leaves elongated, filiform, 

 with smooth sheaths ; spikes 6 - 10, somewhat corymbose ; spikelets distant ou 

 the filiform raehis, 6-flowered ; glumes lanceolate, nearly equal, serrulate on the 

 keel, shorter than the awnless soon spreading flowers ; paleaj fringed on the mar- 

 gins, the lower one truncate or emarginate. — South Florida. 



§ 2. DEPLACHNE. — Lower palea 2-cIefi, 1 - 3-awned. 



3. L. polystachya, Kunth. Culms £° - 4° long, mostly prostrate and 

 rooting at the lower joints, much branched ; raceme partly included in the 

 sheaths of the elongated leaves; spikes numerous, approximate, erect, 3' -5' 

 long; spikelets lanceolate, 8 - 10-flowered ; glumes unequal, shorter than the 

 flowers ; lower palea hairy on the margins below, 3-awned ; the lateral awns 

 minute, the middle one about as long as the palea. (Festuca polystachya, 

 Michz.) — Brackish swamps along the coast, Florida, and northward. Sept (l) 



4. L. Domingensis, Link. ? Culms erect, simple, straight and slender ; 

 leaves narrowly linear or filiform, shorter than the culm ; spikes 6-12, scattered, 

 exserted ; spikelets lanceolate, 6 - 8-flowered ; glumes unequal, acute, rough- 

 keeled ; lower palea hairy on the margins, much longer than the single rough 

 awn. — South Florida. Oct. — Culms 1°- 1^° high. 



24. TRICUSPIS, Beauv. 



Perennial grasses, with tall, erect, simple culms, from a thick and scaly root- 

 stock, elongated rigid leaves, and ovate or lanceolate 5 - 7-flowered stalked spike- 

 lets, disposed in a simple or compound open panicle. Glumes 2, smooth, emar- 

 ginate, shorter than the crowded flowers. Palea; 2, 2-clcft, the lower one shortly 

 3-awned by the percurrent hairy nerves, bearded at the base. Stamens 3. Grain 

 obovate -oblong, free. 



1. T. sesslerioides, Torr. Panicle ample and diffuse, or contracted and 

 erect, bearded in the axils ; spikelets terete, lanceolate, mostly purple ; lower 

 palea with two awn-like teeth similar to the three short awns. (Poa quinquifida, 

 Pursh.) — Dry soil, Florida, and northward. Aug. and Sept. — Culms 3° -5° 

 high. Sheaths often hairy. 



2. T. ambigua. Panicle short, nearly simple, spreading, smooth in the 

 axils, clammy ; spikes ovate or roundish, compressed ; teeth of the lower palea 

 obtuse, wider than the three short awns. (Poa ambigua, Ell.) — Low pine bar- 

 rens, Florida to South Carolina. August. — Culms 2° -3° high. 



25. TRIPLASIS, Beauv. 



Low tufted fibrous-rooted grasses, with branching culms, linear-subulate leaves, 

 and few 4-flowered purple spikelets, disposed in reduced lateral and terminal 

 panicles. Flowers scattered on the slender raehis. Glumes 2, lanceolate, smooth. 

 Palea- 2, hairy on the margins ; the lower one 2-clcft, with a bearded or plumose 

 awn between the teeth ; the upper concave, 3-toothed. Stamens 3. Grain free, 



1 • T. Americana, Beauv. Culms erect, 1° - U° high ; leaves and sheaths 

 hairy; lateral panicles included ; awn of the lower palea plumose, much longer 



