610 GRAMINEJ2. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



4. V. "Virginiea, Beauv. Root perennial; culms tufted, slender (5'-12 ? 

 long), often procumbent, branched ; leaves convolute, rigid ; palets rather shorter 

 than the nearly equal acute glumes. (Agrostis Virginiea, L.) — Sandy sea- 

 shore, Virginia [Clayton) and southward. — Spikelets much smaller and more 

 numerous than in the others. 



7. SPOEOBOLUS, R. Br. Drop-seed Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1- (rarely 2-) flowered, in a contracted or open panicle. Flowers 

 nearly as in Vilfa ; the palets longer than the unequal glumes. Stamens 2-3. 

 Grain a globular utricle (hyaline or rarely coriaceous), containing a loose seed, 

 deciduous (whence the name, from airopa, seed, and /3dXXco, to cast forth). 



* Glumes very unequal: ■panicle pyramidal, open: ours perennials, except No. 3. 



1. S. JTinceus, Kunth. Leaves involute, narrow, rigid, the lowest elon- 

 gated ; culm (l°-2° high) naked above, bearing a narrow loose panicle; glumes 

 ovate, rather obtuse, the lower one half as long as, the upper equalling, the nearly 

 equal palets. (Agrostis juncea, Michx. Vilfa juncea, Trin.) — Dry soil, Penn- 

 sylvania to Wisconsin, and (chiefly) southward. Aug. — Spikelets l"-2" long, 

 shining. 



2. S. heterolepis, Gray. Leaves involute-thread-form, rigid, the lowest as 

 long as the culm ( 1° - 2°) which is naked above ; panicle very loose ; glumes very 

 unequal; the lower awl-shaped (or bristle-pointed from a broad base) and some- 

 what shorter, the upper ovate-oblong and taper-pointed and longer, than the equal 

 palets. (Vilfa heterolepis, Gray.) — Dry soil, Connecticut, and New York to 

 Illinois and Wisconsin. Aug. — Plant exhaling an unpleasant scent (Sullivant), 

 stouter than the last, the spikelets thrice larger. Utricle spherical (1" in diam- 

 eter), shining, thick and coriaceous ! 



3. S. cryptandrus, Gray. Leaves fat, pale (2" wide) ; the pyramidal 

 panicle bursting from the upper sheath which usually encloses its base, its spreading 

 branches hairy in the axils ; upper glume lanceolate, rather acute, twice the length of 

 the lower one, as long as the nearly equal palets ; sheaths strongly bearded at the 

 throat; root perennial. (Agr. & Vilfa cryptandra, Torr.) — Sandy shores, coast 

 of New England, and of the Great Lakes. Aug., Sept. — Culm 2° - 3° high. 

 Panicle lead-color: spikelets 1" long. 



h * Glumes almost equal, shorter than the brand palets : panicle racemose-elongatea, 

 open, the pedicels capillary : sheaths naked at the throat : spikelets not unfrequent/y 

 two-flowered: root perennial . (Colpodidm ?) 



4. S. COmprdssus, Kunth. Very smooth, leafy to the top: culms tufted, 

 stout, very flat: sheaths flattened, much longer than the internodes; leaves erect, 

 narrow, conduplicate-channelled ; glumes acutish, about one third shorter than 

 the obtuse palets. (Agrostis compressa, Torr. Vilfa, Trin.) — Bogs in the 

 pine-barrens of New Jersey. Sept. — Forming strong tussocks, l°-2° high. 

 Panicle 8'- 12' long : spikelets 1" long, purplish. 



5. S. ser6tinUS, Gray. Smooth; culms very slender, flattish (8'- 15' high), 

 fw-leaved ; leaves very slender, channelled ; panicle soon much exserted, the diffuse 

 capillary branches scattered ; glumes ovate, obtuse, about half the length of the 



