GRAMINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 613 



«els spreading in flower, afterwards erect. Spikelets 2|' / -3" long. Awn of 

 the paiet either obsolete or manifest. 



Var. peildula, Gray. Panicle loo«e and more slender, the branches nearly 

 eapillary and drooping in flower ; pedicels very rough ; glumes and palets thin- 

 ner, the former less unequal ; spikelets 1.^"- 2" long ; upper palet obtuse. (C. 

 pendula, Trin. C. latiiblia, Griseb. C. expansa, Link. Blyttia suaveolens, 

 Fries.) — Deep damp woods, N. New England to Lake Superior and northward, 

 and on mountains southward. — A slender variety of the last, as is shown by 

 intermediate specimens, always monandrous. (Eu.) 



11. MUHLENBERGIA, Schreber. Drop-seed G. (PL 8.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, in contracted or rarely in open panicles. Glumes mostly 

 acute or bristle-pointed, persistent ; the lower rather smaller or minute. Flower 

 very short-stalked or sessile in the glumes ; the palets usually minutely bearded 

 at the base, herbaceous, deciduous, with the enclosed grain, often equal ; the 

 lower 3-nerved, mucronate or awned at the apex. Stamens 3. (Dedicated to 

 the Rev. Dr. Henry Muhlenberg, a distinguished American botanist of the early 

 part of this century.) 



§ 1. MUHLENBERGIA proper. Panicles contracted or glomerate, terminal 

 and axillary : perennials (in our species) with branching rigid culms, from scaly 

 creeping rootstocJcs : leaves short and narrow. 

 * Lower palet barely mucronate or sharp-pointed. (Sp. of Cinna, Kunth, Trin.) 



1 . M. SObolifera, Trin. Culms ascending ( 1° - 2° high), rarely branching ; 

 the simple contracted panicle very slender or filiform ; glumes barely pointed, almost 

 equal, one third shorter than the equal palets ; lower palet abruptly short-mucronate. 

 (Agrostis soboUfera, Muhl.) — Open rocky woods, Mass. to Michigan, Illinois, 

 and southward. Aug. — Spikelets less than 1*' long. 



2. M. glomerata, Trin. Culms upright (l°-3° high), sparingly branched 

 or simple ; panicle oblong-linear, contracted into an interrupted glomerate spike, long- 

 peduncled, the branches sessile ; glumes awned, nearly equal, and (with the 

 bristle-like awn) about twice the length of the unequal very acute palets. (Agr. 

 racembsa, Michx. A. setosa, Muhl. Polypogon raccmosus, Nutt.) — Bogs: 

 common, especially northward. Aug. — Panicle 2' -3' long. 



3. M. Mexicana, Trin. Culms ascending, much branched (2° - 3° high) ; 

 panicles lateral and terminal, often included at the base, contracted, the brandies 

 densely spiked-clustered, linear (green and purplish) ; glumes awnless, sharp-pointed, 

 unequal, the upper about the length of the very acute lower palet. (Agr. 

 Mexicana, L. A. lateriflora, Michx.) — Varies with more slender panicles (A. 

 filifbrmis, Muhl.) — Low grounds : common. Aug. 



* * Lower palet bristle-awned from the tip : flowers short-pedicelled. 



4. M. sylvatiea, Torr. & Gr. Culms ascending, much branched and 

 diffusely spi-eading (2° -4° long); contracted panicles densely m any- flowered ; 

 glumes almost equal, bristle-pointed, nearly as long as the lower palet, which bears an 

 awn twice or thrice the length of the spikelet. (Agr. diffusa, Muhl.) — Low or 

 rocky woods : common. Aug., Sept. — In aspect between No. 3 and No. 5. 



