"640 GRAMINEJL. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



48. DAITHONIA, DC. Wild Oat-Grass. (PI. 12.) 



Lower palet (oblong oi ovate, rounded-cylindraceous, 7-9-nerved) bearing 

 between the sharp-pointed or awn-like teeth of the tip an awn composed of the 

 3 middle nerves, which is flatfish and spirally twisting at the base : otherwise 

 nearly as in Avena. Glumes longer than the imbricated flowers. Ours peren- 

 nials, l°-2°high, with narrow and soon involute leaves, hairy sheaths bearded 

 at the throat, and a small simple panicle or raceme of about 7-flowered spikelets* 

 (Named for Danthoine, a French botanist.) 



1. D. spicata, Beauv. Culms tufted, low; leaves short, very narrow; 

 spikelets few, 3" -5'' long; lower palet loosely hairy, its teeth short and pointless. — 

 Dry and sterile or rocky soil. June - Aug. 



2. D. sericea, Nutt. Taller and not tufted (l°-3° high) ; leaves larger; 

 spikelets more numerous and panicled, 6" -9" long; lower palet very silky-viilous, 

 tipped with slender awn-pointed teeth. — Dry or moist sandy soil, Southern Massa- 

 chusetts (Dr. Bobbins), New Jersey (C. E. Smith, C. F. Parker), and southward; 

 rare. June. 



49. AVETTA, L. Oat. (PL 12.) 



Spikelets 2 - many-flowered, panicled; the flowers herbaceo-ehartaceous, ot 

 becoming harder, of firmer texture than the large and mostly unequal glumes ; 

 the uppermost imperfect. Lower palet rounded on the back, mostly 5 — 11- 

 nerved, bearing a long usually bent or twisted awn on the back or below the 

 acutely 2-clcft tip proceeding from the midnervc only. Stamens 3. Grain ob- 

 long-linear, grooved on one side, usually hairy at least at the top, free, but in- 

 vested by the upper palet. (The classical Latin name.) — The Common 7 Oat 

 (A. sativa, L.) represents the large-flowered annual species of the Old World. 

 The following are smaller-flowered, indigenous perennials. 



1. A. Striata, Michx. Glabrous and smooth throughout, slender (l°-2° 

 high); leaves narrow; ligule short, truncate; panicle simple, loose; spikelets 

 (6" long) on capillary pedicels, 3-C-flowered, much exceeding the scarious- 

 margincd purple acute glumes; the lower cj hi me 1-, upper 3-nerved ; rhachis 

 smooth ; /lowers short-bearded at the base ; lower palet 7-nerved, much longer than 

 the ciliate-fringed upper one (4" long), mostly shorter than its soon bent or 

 divergent awn, which rises just below the tapering very sharply cuspidate 

 2-cleft tip. (Trisetum purpurascens, Torr.) -?— Rocky, shaded hills, N. New 

 England, New York, and northwestward. June. 



2. A. Smitkii, T.-C. Porter, n. sp. - Taller (2|°-4|° high), rather stout; 

 leayes broadly linear (3''-G' / wide) and taper-pointed, flat, and with the sheaths 

 and culm retrorsely scabrous; ligule elongated, acute; panicle larger (G'-12' 

 long), the few branches at length spreading; glumes slightly purplish, scabrou? 

 on the nerves, of which there are 3 in the lower and 5 in the upper ; rhachis mi- 

 nutely hispid ; flowers (3-5) not hairy-tufted at the base ; awn one third or half 

 the length of the 7-nerved palet, straight. — Isle Royale, Keweenaw Point, Lake 

 Superior, Bobbins. Woods near Sault Ste. Marie, C. E. Smith, for whom the 

 species is named. April, May. — To be compared with the Siberian A. caliosa, 

 Turczaninow, which was referred to A. striata by Trinius. 



