MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



355 



Figure 497. — Coleanthus subtilis. Plant, X 1; lemma and palea and two views of spikelet with ripe caryopsis, 



X 20. (Howell, Oreg.) 



74. CINNA L. Woodreed 



Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulating below the glumes, the rachilla forming 

 a stipe below the floret and produced behind the palea as a minute bristle; 

 glumes equal or subequal, 1- to 3-nerved; lemma similar to the glumes, nearly 

 as long, 3-nerved, bearing a minute, short, straight awn just below the apex 

 (rarely awnless) ; palea 1-keeled. Tall perennials with flat blades and close or 

 open panicles. Type species, Cinna arundinacea. Cinna (kinna) an old Greek 

 name for a grass. 



Our two species furnish highly palatable forage but usually are not abun- 

 dant enough to be of much importance. 



Spikelets 5 mm. long; panicle rather dense, the branches ascending.... 1. C. arundinacea. 

 Spikelets 3.5 to 4 mm. long; panicle loose, the branches spreading or drooping. 



2. C. LATIFOLIA. 



1. Cinna arundinacea L. Stout 

 woodreed. (Fig. 498.) Culms erect, 

 usually 1 to 1.5 m. tall, often some- 

 what bulbous at base, solitary or few 

 in a tuft; sheaths glabrous; ligule 

 rather prominent, thin; blades flat, 

 scabrous, mostly less than 1 cm. wide; 

 panicle many-flowered, nodding, gray- 

 ish, 15 to 30 cm. long, the branches 

 ascending; spikelets 5 to 6 mm. long; 

 glumes somewhat unequal, acute, the 

 second 3-nerved; lemma usually a 

 little longer than the first glume, 

 bearing below the tip a minute 

 straight awn; palea apparently 1- 

 nerved. % — Moist woods, Maine 

 to South Dakota, south to Georgia 

 and eastern Texas. Cinna arundi- 

 nacea var. inexpansa Fern, and 

 Grisc. Panicle narrower, the shorter 

 branches ascending; spikelets 3.7 to 

 4.2 mm. long. % — Margin of 

 swamps and moist woods, southeast 

 Virginia. 



2. Cinna latifolia (Trevir.) Griseb. 

 Drooping woodreed. (Fig. 499.) 



Resembling C. arundinacea; blades 

 shorter and on the average wider, as 

 much as 1.5 cm. wide; panicle green, 

 looser, the branches fewer, spreading 

 or drooping, naked at base for as 

 much as 5 cm.; spikelets about 4 

 mm. long; awn of lemma sometimes 

 as much as 1 mm. long (rarely want- 

 ing) ; palea 2-nerved, the nerves very 

 close together. 91 — Moist woods, 

 Newfoundland and Labrador to Alas- 

 ka, south to Connecticut, in the 

 mountains to North Carolina and 

 Tennessee, to Michigan, Illinois, 

 South Dakota, in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains to northern New Mexico, to 

 Utah and central California; northern 

 Eurasia. 



75. LIMNODEA L. H. Dewey 



Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulat- 

 ing below the glumes, the rachilla 

 prolonged behind the palea as a short 

 slender bristle; glumes equal, firm; 

 lemma membranaceous, smooth, 



