VlLFA. 



GRAMINEjE. 



439 



2. Vilfa aspera, Beauv. Rough-leaved Vilfa. 



Panicle contracted, spiked, partly exserted from the uppermost sheath ; palea? much larger 

 than the glumes, smooth or hairy ; culm erect ; leaves very long, filiform toward the extremity; 

 sheaths bearded at the throat. — Beauv. agrost. p. 16. V. longifolia, Torr. <§• Gr. in Gray's 

 Gram. <§• Cyp. Agrostis aspera, Michx.fi. 1. p. 53. A. clandestina, Spreng. cent. 1. p. 

 32 ; Muhl. gram. p. 74; Ell. sk. 1. p. 138 ; Torr. fi. 1. p. 91 ; Bigel. ft. Bost. p. 29. 

 A. involuta, Muhl. I. c, not of Poir ; Torr. I. c. Sporobolus asper, Kunth, enum. 1. p. 

 210, excl. syn. Torr. Muhlenbergia clandestina, Trin. diss. 1. p. 190? 



Perennial. Culm 2-4 feet high, simple, terete. Lower leaves 1-2 feet long, about 2 

 lines wide below, tapering to a long thread-like extremity which is often recurved, involute, 

 very rough on the margin : sheaths smooth, closed, bearded with long whitish hairs at the 

 throat. Panicles often both lateral and terminal ; the latter concealed in the sheaths ; the 

 former more or less exserted, but sometimes wholly enclosed. Spikelets about 2^ lines long, 

 compressed. Glumes lanceolate, scarcely keeled, one-nerved. Paleas unequal ; the lower 

 one nearly twice as long as the upper, acute, smooth or hairy toward the base and along the 

 keel : upper one shorter. Stamens 3 : filaments short : anthers small and oblong. Cary- 

 opsis oblong, brown. 



Sandy fields and hill-sides : not common. Fl. September. I think there can be little doubt 

 that the Agrostis aspera of Michaux, includes both A. involuta, Muhl. and A. clandestina, 

 Spreng. 



3. Vilfa serotina, Torr. Gr. Late-Jiowering Vilfa. 



Culm filiform, compressed ; leaves very narrow, keeled ; panicle elongated, capillary, some- 

 what diffuse ; the branches distant, alternate ; glumes ovate, a little unequal, about half the 

 length of the oblong obtuse palea3. — Torr. <f- Gr. in Gray, Gram. Cyp. part 1. Agrostis 

 serotina, Torr.fi. 1. p. 88 ; Beck, hot. p. 388. 



Annual. Culms 12 - 18 inches high, growing in dense patches, very slender, sometimes 

 branching at the base, smooth, often viviparous at the nodes. Leaves 2-3 inches long, and 

 half aline wide, smooth: sheaths open: ligule ovate, short. Panicle 3 -10 inches long; 

 the branches flexuous. Spikelets elliptical, scarcely half a line long, on capillary pedicels. 

 Glumes one-nerved. Paleee smooth, the lower one shorter. Stamens 3. Caryopsis obovoid. 



Sandy swamps : Suffolk county, Long Island. Fl. September. A common species in some 

 parts of the pine barrens of New-Jersey. The grain is often in the state of ergot. 



