286 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



panicle narrow, nodding, loose or 

 somewhat compact, 15 to 25 cm. long, 

 the branches ascending, the lower 

 distant: spikelets 2- or 3-flowered, 3 

 to 3.5 mm. long; second floret sca- 

 berulous, usually awned just below 

 the apex, the awn scabrous, genicu- 

 late, 1 to 2 mm. long. % (Eatonia 

 aristata Scribn. and Merr.) — Rich 

 wooded slopes, Southampton County, 

 Va., to South Carolina. The type of 

 Aira pallens Bieler has not been 

 examined, but it was received from 



Figure 383. — Sphenopholis 

 nitida. Panicle, X 1; 

 glumes and florets, X 10. 

 (House 1920, S. C.) 



slender, 30 to 60 cm. tall; blades lax, 

 flat to subinvolute, mostly less than 

 2 mm. wide; panicle slender, often 

 nodding, 5 to 15 cm. long, the short 

 branches rather distant, erect or as- 

 cending; spikelets 3 to 4 mm. long, 

 the 2 florets rather distant; second 

 glume broadly rounded at summit, 

 about 2 mm. long; lemmas obtuse to 

 subacute, rarely with a short spread- 

 ing awn; the first smooth, the sec- 

 ond minutely roughened. % — Dry 

 soil, Coastal Plain, southeastern Vir- 

 ginia to Florida, Tennessee, and 

 eastern Texas. Awned lemmas, either 

 the first or second, are occasionally 

 found in some panicles. 



6. Sphenopholis pallens (Bieler) 

 Scribn. (Fig. 385.) Culms erect, about 

 60 cm. tall; lower sheaths minutely 

 pubescent, the upper glabrous; blades 

 flat, glabrous, 1 to 2 mm. wide; 



Figure 384. — Sphenopholis fili- 

 formis. Panicle, X 1 ; glumes 

 and florets, X 10. (Hitchcock 

 1044, Ala.) 



Figure 385. — Sphenopholis pallens. Spikelet, X 10. 

 (Curtiss, S. C.) 



