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



a conspicuous tuft of white hairs in 

 the throat; blades elongate, some of 

 them commonly 20 to 25 cm. long, 

 2 to 3 mm. wide, usually flat, some- 

 times involute and subfiliform, sca- 

 brous; panicle 5 to 8 cm. long (rarely 

 to 10 cm.), the slender branches bear- 

 ing 2 or 3 spikelets, contracted after 

 anthesis but looser than in D. spicata; 

 glumes 10 to 14 mm. (usually about 

 12 mm.) long; lemma and palea as 

 in D. spicata but the teeth of the 

 lemma aristate, 2 to 3 mm. long. 

 01 — Meadows, and open woods, 

 Nova Scotia to Quebec, Maine to 

 Ohio and south to the mountains of 

 North Carolina and Georgia. Appears 

 to intergrade with D. spicata. Taller 

 stouter plants with panicles of 9 to 

 20 spikelets with glumes 10 to 13 mm. 

 long have been differentiated as D. 

 alleni Austin. 



3. Danthonia sericea Nutt. Downy 

 oatgrass. (Fig. 418.) Culms erect, 

 densely tufted, 50 to 100 cm. tall; 

 sheaths, especially the lower, villous 

 (rarely glabrous) ; blades 10 to 25 cm. 

 long, 2 to 4 mm. wide, those of the 

 innovations mostly involute, those of 

 the culm mostly flat; panicle 5 to 

 10 cm. long, relatively many-flow- 

 ered,, the branches bearing 2 to 6 

 spikelets, rather open or contracted 

 after anthesis; glumes 12 to 17 mm. 

 long; lemmas densely long-pilose, es- 

 pecially along the margin, about 10 

 mm. long, including the slender 

 aristate teeth, the teeth about half 

 the entire length; palea concave, 

 narrowed toward the 2-toothed apex. 

 % — Sand barrens, chiefly Coastal 

 Plain, Massachusetts (Sherborn) ; New 

 Jersey to northern Florida, Kentucky, 

 and Louisiana. A rare form with 

 nearly glabrous foliage has been 

 differentiated as D. epilis Scribn. (D. 

 glabra Nash, not Phil.) Virginia to 

 Georgia. 



4. Danthonia intermedia Vasey. 

 Timber oatgrass. (Fig. 419.) Culms 

 10 to 50 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous 

 (the lower rarely pilose) with long 

 hairs in the throat; blades sub- 

 involute, or those of the culm flat, 



Figure 417. — Danthonia compressa. Panicle, X 1; 

 floret, X 5. (Hitchcock 103, Tenn.) 



Figure 418. — DantJionia sericea. Panicle, X 1 ; floret, 

 X 5. (Kearney 1219, Va.) 



2. Danthonia compressa Austin. 

 (Fig. 417.) Culms on the average 

 stouter and taller than in D. spicata, 

 compressed, rather loosely tufted, 

 sometimes decumbent or with short 

 rhizomes, 40 to 80 cm. tall; sheaths 

 reddish above the nodes, glabrous, 

 or sparsely pubescent on the collar, 





