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



and through eastern Washington to 

 Arizona. 



9. Spartina patens (Ait.) Muhl. 

 Saltmeadow cordgrass. (Fig. 749.) 

 Culms slender, mostly less than 1 m. 

 tall, with long slender rhizomes; 

 blades sometimes flat but mostly in- 

 volute, less than 3 mm. wide; spikes 

 2 to several, appressed to somewhat 

 spreading, 2 to 5 cm. long, rather re- 

 mote on the axis; spikelets 8 to 12 

 mm. long; first glume about half as 

 long as the floret, the second longer 

 than the lemma; lemma 5 to 7 mm. 

 long, emarginate at apex; palea a 

 little longer than the lemma. % — 

 Salt marshes and sandy meadows 

 along the coast, Quebec to Florida 

 and Texas, and in saline marshes in- 

 land, New York and Michigan. Spar- 

 tina PATENS Var. MONOGYNA (M. A. 



Curtis) Fernald. Often taller and 

 coarser, commonly with 4 to 8 spikes, 

 the spikelets slightly smaller and 

 more closely imbricate. Intermediate 

 specimens rather frequent. % (S. 

 juncea Willd., S. patens var. juncea 

 Hitchc.) — Along the coast, New Jer- 

 sey to Texas. 



Figure 749. — Spartina patens. Panicle, X 1; spike- 

 let, X 5. (Killip 6359, Md.) 



108. CTENIUM Panzer 

 (Campulosus Desv.) 



Spikelets several-flowered but with only 1 perfect floret, sessile and pecti- 

 nately arranged on one side of a continuous rachis, the rachilla disarticulating 

 above the glumes; first glume small, lryaline, 1-nerved, the second about as 

 long as the lemmas, firm, 3- to 4-nerved, bearing on the back a strong divergent 

 awn; lemmas rather papery, 3-nerved, with long hairs on the lateral nerves and 

 a short straight or curved awn on the back just below the apex, the first and 

 second lemmas empty, the third enclosing a perfect flower, the upper 1 to 3 

 empty and successively smaller. Erect, slender, rather tall perennials, with 

 usually solitary, often curved spikes. Type species, Ctenium carolinianum 

 Panzer. (C. aromaticum) . Name from Greek ktenion, a little comb, alluding to 

 the pectinate arrangement of the spikelets. 



Plants forming dense tussocks; second glume with a row of prominent glands on each side of 

 the midnerve; awn stout, at maturity horizontal or nearly so; ligule about 1 mm. long. 



1. C. AROMATICUM. 



Plants with slender seal}' rhizomes; second glume glandless or with obscure glands; awn 

 rather slender, not horizontally spreading; ligule 2 to 3 mm. long.... 2. C. florid axum. 



