634 GKAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



* * Flowers oblong or lanceolate, atpnless or nearly so (l-*-"-4" long) : grain often 



free! (Root perennial : culms most/./ tall : leaves flat.) 



4. i7. eiAtior, L. (Taller cr Meadow Fescue.) Panicle narrow, 

 contracted before and after flowering, erect, with short branches; spikelcts crowded, 

 5 - 10-flowcrcd; the flowers rather remote, oblong-lanceolate ; lower palct 5-ncrved, 

 scarious-margined, blunt, acute, or rarely with a distinct but very short awn. — 

 The type is large, 3° -4° high ; spikelets about G" long, in an ample and com- 

 pound panicle. Rich grass-land. — Var. pkatensis (F. pratensis, Hucls.) is c 

 lower (l°-3° high), with a simpler or close panicle, of smaller or narrower 

 spikelets; and abounds in grass-lands. June -Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



5. IF. nutans, Willd. Panicle of several long and slender spreading branches, 

 mostly in pairs, drooping when old, rough, naked below, bearing near their ex- 

 tremity a few ovate 3 - 5-floweretI spikelets (3" long) on pretty long pedicels ; 

 flowers ovate-oblong, rather obtuse, close together, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 

 5-nerved. — Rocky woods and copses. July. — Culm 2° - 4° high, naked above : 

 leaves broadly linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often rather hairy. 



38. BRQMTJS, L. Brome-Grass. (PI. 10.) 



Spikelets 5 - many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous ; the 

 lower 1 - 5-, the upper 3 - 9-ncrvcd. Lower palct cither convex on the back or 

 compressed-keeled, 5 - 9-nerved, awned or bristle-pointed from below the mostly 

 2-ckft tip : upper palet at length adhering to the groove of the oblong or linear 

 grain. Stamens 3. Styles attached below the apex of the ovary. — Coarse 

 Grasses, with large spikelcts, at length drooping, on pedicels thickened at the 

 apex. (An ancient name for the Oat, from (3p6p.os, food.) 



§ 1. Lower palet convex on the bach; the flowers imbricated over one another before 

 expansion : lower glume 3 - 5-nerved, the upper 5 - 9-nerved. 



* Annuals or biennials, weeds of cultivation, introduccel into grain-fields, or rarely in 



waste grounds, probably all derived from the European B. arvensis, L. 

 i. B. secalinus, L. (Cheat or Chess.) Panicle spreading, even in fruit, 

 the drooping peduncles little branched ; spikelets oblong-ovate, turgid, smooth, of 

 8-10 rather distant flowers; lower palet rather longer than the upper, short- 

 awned or awnless; sheaths nearly glabrous. — Too common in wheat-fields. 

 June, July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. B, racem6sus, L. (Upright Chess.) Panicle erect, simple, rather 

 narrow, contracted in fruit ; flowers closer, more imbricated; lower palet decidedly 

 exceeding the upper, bearing an awn of its own length ; culm more slender ; sheaths 

 sometimes hairy : otherwise nearly as in the last, for which it is often mistaken 

 in this country. (Adv. fromEu.) 



3. B. mollis, L. (Soft Chess.) Panicle erect, closely contracted in fruit ; 

 spikelets conical-ovate, somewhat flattened ; the flowers closely imbricated, downy 

 (as also the leaves, &c.) ; lower palet acute, long-awned. — Wheat-fields, New York 

 to Virginia: scarce. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



* # Perennial : indigenous. (Lower glume strongly 3-nerved, the upper 5-nerved. 



4. B. Kalmii, Gray. (Wild Chess.) Panicle simple, small (3 ; - 4' long) ; 

 spikelets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7 - 1 2-flowered, densely silky 



