444 



GRAMINE.E. 



Calamagrostis. 



Tribe VI. AR UNDINACEJE. Kunth. 



Spikelets either one-flowered {with or without an abortive pedicel), or many -flowered. 

 Flowers usually with long soft hairs at the base. Glumes and palece, 2, membranaceo- 

 herbaceous. — Mostly tall perennial grasses. 



21. CALAMAGROSTIS. Adans. ; Trin. diss. 1. p. 133. small-reed. 



[From the Greek, calamos, a reed, and agrostis, a genus of grasses.] 

 Deyeuxia, Beauv. 



Spikelets one-flowered. Glumes longer than the paleae. Paleae somewhat equal, with long 

 hairs at the base, and an abortive pedicel or rudimentary flower ; the lower one with a short 

 awn near the top or on the back. — Panicle branching ; the spikelets all pedicellate. 



1. Calamagrostis Canadensis, Beauv. (Plate CL.) Canadian Small-reed. 



Panicle oblong, loose ; glumes nearly equal, serrulate on the keel, a little rough on the 

 sides ; paleae as long as the glumes, the lower one with a somewhat exserted awn on the back 

 below the middle ; hairs as long as the paleae ; culm and leaves smooth. — Beauv. ; Torr. 

 in Gray's Gram. <§• Cyp. part 1, no. 18; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 62; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 

 237, not of Nutt. C. Mexicana, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 46 (excl. syn. Pers.) ; Beck, bot. p. 401. 

 Arundo Canadensis, Michx. fl. 1. p. 73 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 86 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 83 ; Bigel. fl. 

 Bost. p. 38. C. Purshii, Kunth, enum. 1. p. 208. A. confinis, Willd. enum. 1. p. 127 (fide 

 Muhl.). A. cinnoides, Muhl. gram. p. 187. A. agrostoides, Pursh, I. c. 



Culm 2-4 feet high, mostly simple. Leaves a foot long and 3-4 lines wide, flat, some- 

 what glaucous, slightly pubescent above, smoothish underneath ; sheaths close : ligule oblong, 

 lacerate. Panicle erect, at length somewhat expanding ; the branches 4 - 6 in a whorl, 

 rough. Glumes lanceolate, very acute, keeled ; the sides purplish. Paleae unequal, oblong, 

 rather obtuse : lower one slightly 2-toothed at the summit, awned a little below the middle, 

 the awn projecting beyond the flower : upper one entire. Hairs at the base of the paleae 

 copious, white. Rudiment small, clavate, with long hairs at the summit. Stamens 3 : anthers 

 large, yellow. 



Wet meadows : common in the interior of the State, but rare near the seaboard. Fl. 

 August. 



2. Calamagrostis coarctata, Torr. (Plate CLI.) Glaucous Small-reed. 



Panicle contracted, thick and somewhat conglomerate ; glumes narrowly lanceolate, nearly 

 equal, a little longer than the paleae, carinate ; lower palea awned a little below the tip ; hairs 

 two-thirds as long as the flower ; leaves glaucous. — Torr. in Gray's Gram. <§• Cyp. part I. 

 no. 19; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 62. C. Canadensis, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 46 ; Trin. diss. 1. p. 



