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



80. BRACHYELYTRUM Beauv. 



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

 prolonged behind the palea as a slender naked bristle ; glumes minute, 



the first often obsolete, the second some- 

 times awned; lemma firm, narrow, 5- 

 nerved, the base extending into a pro- 

 nounced oblique callus, the apex 

 terminating in a long straight scabrous 

 awn. Erect, slender perennials with short 

 knotty rhizomes, flat blades, and narrow, 

 rather few-flowered panicles. Type species, 

 Brachyelytrum erectum. Name from Greek 

 brachus, short, and elutron, cover or husk, 

 alluding to the short glumes. 



1. Brachyelytrum erectum (Schreb.) 



Beauv. (Fig. 859.) Culms 60 to 100 



cm tall; sheaths sparsely retrorse-hispid, 



rarely glabrous; blades mostlv 7 to 15 



1 to 



cm long, 

 1.5 cm wide, 

 scabrous, spar- 

 ingly pilose be- 

 neath, at least 

 on the nerves 

 and margin; 

 panicle 5 to 15 

 cm long, the 



short branches appressed; second 

 glume 0.5 to 2 mm long; lemma sub- 

 terete, about 1 cm long, scabrous, the 

 nerves sometimes hispid, the awn 1 to 

 3 cm long. % — Moist or rocky 

 woods, Newfoundland to Minnesota, 

 south to Georgia and Oklahoma 

 (fig. 860). 



81. MILIUM L. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, disarticulat- 

 ing above the glumes; glumes 



Figi-re 860.— Distribution of 

 Brachyelytrum erectum. 



Figure 861.— Milium effusum. Plant, X H; spikelet and floret, X 5. (Phillips, Maine.) 



equal, obtuse, membranaceous, rounded on the back; lemma a little 

 shorter than the glumes, obtuse, obscurely nerved, rounded on the 

 back, dorsally compressed, in fruit becoming indurate, smooth and 



