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



Our two species furnish highly palatable forage but usually are not 

 abundant 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. 701, A.) Culms 

 erect, usually 1 to 1.5 m tall, often somewhat bulbous at base, soli- 

 tary or few in a tuft ; sheaths glabrous ; ligule rather prominent, thin ; 

 blades flat, scabrous, mostly less than 1 cm wide; panicle many-flow- 

 ered, nodding, grayish, 15 to 30 cm long, the branches ascending; 

 spikelets about 5 mm long; glumes somewhat unequal, acute, the 

 second 3 -nerved; lemma usually a little longer than the firs4*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 (fig. 702). 



2. Cinna latifolia (Trevir.) Griseb. Drooping woodreed. (Fig. 

 701, B.) 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 



Figure 702.— Distribution of 

 Cinna arundinacea. 



Figure 703.— Distribution of 

 Cinna latifolia. 



5 cm; spikelets about 4 mm long; awn of lemma sometimes as much^ 

 as 1 mm long (rarely wanting) ; palea 2-nerved, the nerves very close" f 

 together. % — Moist woods, Newfoundland and Labrador to^^ 

 Alaska, south to Connecticut, in the mountains to North Carolina, 

 to Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, in the Rocky Mountains to 

 northern New Mexico, to Utah and central California (fig. 703); 

 northern Eurasia. 



68. LIMNODEA L. H. Dewey 



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

 prolonged behind the palea as a short slender bristle; glumes equal, 

 firm; lemma membranaceous, smooth, nerveless, 2-toothed at the 

 apex, bearing from between the teeth a slender bent awn, twisted at 

 base; palea a little shorter than the lemma. Slender annual with flat 

 blades and narrow panicles. Type species, Limnodea arkansana. 

 Name altered from Limnas, a genus of grasses. 



1. Limnodea arkansana (Nutt.) L. H. Dewey. (Fig. 704.) Culms 

 branching at base, 20 to 40 cm tall; blades more or less pubescent on 

 both surfaces; panicle 5 to 15 cm long, narrow but loose; spikelets 

 3.5 to 4 mm long; glumes hispidulous or pilose; awn 8 to 10 mm 

 long. % — Dry soil, prairies and river banks, Coastal Plain, Florida 



