GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 611 



palets. (Agr. & Yilfa serotina, Torr. V. tenera, Trin. Poa? uniflora, Muhl. 

 P. modesta, Tuckerm.) — Sandy wet places, Maine to New Jersey and Michigan. 

 Sept. — A very delicate grass ; the spikelets half a line long. 



8. AGROSTIS, L. Bent-Grass. (PI. 7.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in an open panicle. Glumes somewhat equal, or the 

 lower rather longer, usually longer than the palets, pointless. Palets very thin, 

 pointless, naked ; the lower 3 - 5-nerved, frequently awned on the back ; the < 

 upper often minute or none. Stamens chiefly 3. Grain (caryopsis) free. — 

 Culms usually tufted, slender; root commonly perennial. (Name from dypos, 

 u jidd, the place of growth.) 



§ 1. TRICHODIUM, Michx. — Upper palet abortive, minute, or now. 



1. A. elata, Trin. Culms firm or stout (2° -3° high) ; leaves flat (l"-2" 

 wide) ; upper ligules elongated (2" -3" long) ; spikelets crowded on the branches 

 of the spreading panicle above the middle (lj" long) ; lower palet awnless, slightly 

 shorter than the rather unequal glumes; the upper wanting. (A. Schweinitzii, 

 Trin.? A. altissima, Tuckerm., excl. var. laxa. Trich. elatum, Pursh.) — 

 Swamps, New Jersey and southward. October. 



2. A. perennans, Tuckerm. (Thin-Grass.) Culms slender, erect from 

 a decumbent base (l°-2° high).; leaves flat (the upper 4'-6' long, l"-2''wide) ; 

 ■panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green ; the branches short, divided and 

 flower-bearing from or below the middle; lower palet awnless (rarely short-awn ed), 

 shorter than the unequal glumes ; the upper minute or obsolete. (Cornucopias 

 perennans, Walt. Trich. perennans, Ell. T. decumbens, Michx. T. scabrum, 

 Muhl. Agr. and mala, Willd.) — Damp shaded places. July, Aug. — Spikelets, 

 &c. as in No. 3, into which it seems to vary. 



3. A. seabra, Willd. (Hair-Grass.) Culms very slender, erect (1°- 2° 

 high) ; leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper l'-3' long, 

 less than 1'' wide) ; panicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary 

 branches flower-bearing at and near the apex ; lower palet awnless or occasionally 

 short-awned on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute glumes ; the 

 upper minute or obsolete ; root biennial ? (A. laxiflor-a, Richard. A. Michauxii, 

 Trin. partly. Trich. laxiflorum, Michx. T. montanum, Torr.) — Exsiccated 

 places : common. June- Aug. — Remarkable for the long and divergent capil- 

 lary branches of the extremely loose panicle ; these are whorled, rough with 

 very minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 

 17/fong. — A variety? from about the "White Mountains, &c. (var. montana, 

 Tuckerm.), has a more or less exserted awn, thus differing from the T. monta- 

 num, Torr. (A. oredphila, Trin.), which is a dwarfed form, growing in tufts in 

 hollows of rocks, &c. 



4. A. canina, L. (Brown Bent-Grass.) Culms 8' -2° high; root- 

 leaves involute-bristle-form, those of the culm flat and broader ; panicle loose ; 

 glumes slightly unequal, ovate-lanceolate, very acute ; palet exsertly awned on 

 the back at or below the middle; spikelets brownish or purplish, rarely pale or 

 greenish (1"-H" long). — Meadows, sparingly naturalized eastward. A 

 mountain form with shorter and more spreading panicle (A. Pickerfngii 



