608 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



2. ZIZANIA, Gronoy. Water or Indian Eice. (PI. 7.) 



Rowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate both in 1 -flowered spikelets 

 in the same panicle. Glumes wanting, or rudimentary and forming a little 

 cup. Palets herbaceo-membranaceous, convex, awnless in the sterile, the lower 

 one tipped with a straight awn in the fertile spikelets. Stamens 6. Stigmas 

 pencil-form. — Large, often reed-like water-grasses. Spikelets jointed with the 

 club-shaped pedicels, very deciduous. (Adopted from Zi£aviov, the ancient 

 name of some wild grain.) 



1. Z. aquatica, L. (Indian Eice. Water Oats.) Annual; lower 

 branches of the ample pyramidal panicle staminate, spreading ; the -upper end, pis- 

 tillate; pedicels strongly club-shaped ; lower palet long awrud, rough; styles dis- 

 tinct; grain linear, slender. (Z. clavulosa, Michx) — Swampy borders of 

 streams .and in shallow water : common, especially northwestward. Aug.— • 

 Culms 3° - 9° high. Leaves flat, 2° - 3° long, linear-lanceolate. Grain 6" long ; 

 largely gathered for food by the Northwestern Indians. 



2. Z. miliaoea, Michx. Perennial ; panicle diffuse, ample, the laminate 

 and pistillate flowers intermixed ; awns short ; styles united ; grain ovate. Penn. ? 

 Ohio, and southward. Aug. — Leaves involute. 



3. ALOPE GURUS, L. Foxtail Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered. Glumes boat-shaped, strongly compressed and keeled, 

 nearly equal, united at the base, equalling or exceeding the lower palet. which 

 is awned on the back below the middle: upper palet wanting ! Stamens 3. 

 Styles mostly united. Stigmas long and feathered. — Clusters contracted into 

 a cylindrical and soft dense spike. Eoot perennial. (Name from akcoTrn^fox, 

 and ovpd, tail, the popular appellation, from the shape of the spike.) 



1. A. pratensis, L. (Meadow Foxtail.) Culm upright, smooth (2° 

 high); palet equalling the acute glumes; awn exserted more than half its length, 

 twisted; the upper leaf much shorter than its inflated sheath. — Meadows and 

 pastures, eastward. May. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. A. geniculates, L. (Floating F.) Culm ascending, bent at the 

 lower joints ; palet rather shorter than the obtuse glumes, the awn from near its bass 

 and projecting half its length beyond it; anthers linear ; the upper leaf as long as 

 its sheath. — Moist meadows, eastward. June -Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. A. aristulatus, Michx. (Wild F.) Glaucous; culm decumbent 

 below, at length bent and ascending ; palet rather longer than the obtuse glumes, 

 scarcely exceeded by the awn which rises from just below its middle; anthers 

 oblong. (A. subaristatus, Pers.) — In water and wet places : common. June- 

 Aug. Spike more slender and paler than in the last. (Eu.) 



4. PHLEUM, L. Cat's-tail Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Palets both present, shorter than the mucronate or awned glumes ; the lower 

 one truncate, usually awnless. Styles distinct. Otherwise much as in Alope- 

 curus. — Perennials. Spike very dense, harsh. (An ancient Greek name.) 



I. P. pratense, L. (Timothy. Herd's-Grass in New England and 

 New York ) Tall; spike cylindrical, elongated; glumes ciliate on the back. 



