No. 28. 

 EPICAMPES RIGENS Bentham. 



Rootstocks rather slender, ascending. Roots rather stout,' little branched. 



Stems tufted, erect, commonly 2 to 6 feet high, glabrous, simple. Leaves of the 

 root few; sheath glabrous or slightly scabrous above, usually clasping, seldom ex- 

 ceeding 5 inches in length; blade elongated, often exceeding 1 foot, usually in- 

 volute, scabrous ; ligule about 1 line long, truncate, margin minutely ciliate. 

 Leaves of the stem 2 to 4, similar; sheaths mostly long and imbricated, often ex- 

 ceeding 1 foot. 



Inflorescence paniculate. Panicle spike-like, 6 to 12 inches long, commonly \ 

 to f inch in diameter, usually sheathed at the base ; branches 1 inch long or less, 

 appressed to the terete scabrous rachis. Branches and pedicels scabrous. 



Spikelets lanceolate, narrowed at the base, terete, acute at the apex, 1-g- to 2 lines 

 long, borne singly on the pedicels, rachilla pilose between the second and third 

 glumes. 



Glumes 3; first and second nearly equal, lanceolate-oblong, obtuse or acute, 

 1 -nerved, scabrous, two-thirds the length of thespikelet; third (flowering) broadly 

 lanceolate when spread open, acute, 3- to 5-nerved, scabrous, with neither awn or 

 mucro, hyaline below, usually lead-colored above. 



Flower hermaphrodite, single. Palet lanceolate, equaling its glume, 2-nerved, 

 acute at the apex. Stamens 3; anthers linear, about 1 line long. Stigmas short, 

 long-fimbriate. 



Grain not seen. Rachilla probably disarticulating above the second glume. 



Plate XXVIII; a and b, spikelet, opened and the parts separated; c, same, 

 closed and facing in the opposite direction. The ovary is more than five times too 

 long, and was probably drawn from a half matured specimen. 



This is a coarse grass growing in dense clumps, and is also sometimes called 

 saccato. It does not extend far northward. 



