628 GRAMINEJE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



than the blunt upper one. (G. plicata, Fries.) — Shallow water: common, 

 June -Aug. — Leaves short and rather broad, very smooth. Panicle 1° long: 

 the simple branches appressed, finally spreading below. (Eu.) 



8. G. acutifiora, Torr. Spikelets 5 - 1 2-flowered, few and scattered ; 

 lower palet oblong-lanceolate, acute, shorter than the long tapering point of the upper 

 one. — Wet places, Perm, to Maine : rather rare. June. — Resembles the last ; 

 but the erect leaves smaller, the separate flowers twice the length (4" long), and 

 less nerved. 



§ 2. HELEOCHLOA, Fries. ( Sclerbchloa, Ed. 1.) Lower palet inconspicu- 

 ously or obsoletehj 'it-nerved : stigmas nearly sessile and simply plumose : grain 

 hardly grooved: saline species : panicle contracted with age. 



9. G. maritima, Wahl. (Sea Spear-Grass.) Sterile shoots procumbent, 

 runner-like ; flowering culms erect (1°- 1^° high) ; branches of the panicle solitary 

 or in pairs ; spikelets oblong or linear, 4 - 8-flowered ; lower palet rounded at the 

 summit, slightly pubescent towards the base • leaves somewhat involute ; ligule 

 elongated. (Poa maritima, Huds.) — Sea coast : not rare. (Eu.) 



10. G. distans, Wahl. Culms geniculate at the base, ascending, destitute 

 of running shoots ; branches of the panicle 3-5 in a half whorl, spreading ; spike- 

 lets 3 - 6-flowered ; lower palet truncate-obtuse ; leaves mostly flat ; ligule short. 

 (P. fasciculata, Torr.) — Salt marshes along the coast. — Too like the last. (Eu.) 



33. BRIZOPYRUM, Link. Spike-Grass. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or 

 capitate panicle. Glumes herbaceous or membranaceous ; the lower faintly 

 many-nerved. Lower palet rather coriaceous, laterally much flattened, indis- 

 tinctly many-nerved, acute. Ovary stalked. — Flowers dioecious, pi-etty large. 

 Leaves crowded on the culms, involute, commonly rigid. (Name compounded 

 of Briza, the Quaking- Grass, and nvpos, wheat.) 



1. B. spicatum, Hook. Culms tufted from creeping rootstocks (9'- 18' 

 high) ; spike oblong, flattened (1' long) ; spikelets ovate or oblong, 5 - 10-flow- 

 ered ; flowers smooth and naked ; grain pointed. (Uniola spicata, L. Poa 

 Michauxii, Kunth.) — Salt marshes and shores. Aug. — Pistillate flowers more 

 rigid and almost keeled, with very long plumose stigmas ; the sterile smaller 

 and somewhat rounded on the back. 



34. POA, L. Meadow-Grass. Spear-Grass. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets ovate or lance-ovate, laterally compressed, several- (2- 10-) flowered, 

 in an open panicle. Glumes mostly shorter than the flowers ; the lower smaller. 

 Lower palet membranaceo-herbaceous, with a delicate scarious margin, com- 

 pressed-keeled, pointless, 5-nerved (the intermediate nerves more obscure or 

 obsolete), the principal nerves commonly clothed at and towards the base with 

 soft hairs : upper palet membranaceous, 2-toothed : base of the flower often 

 cobwebby. Stamens 2 or 3. Stigmas simply plumose. Grain oblong, free. — 

 Culms tufted, from perennial roots, except No. 1 . Leaves smooth, usually flat 

 and soft. (Ilda, an ancient Greek name for grass or fodder.) 



