472 



GRAMINEiE. 



Festuca. 



secund ; the branches solitary or in pairs. Spikelets mostly 7-flowered, racemose toward the 

 extremity of the branches. Glumes unequal ; the upper larger, and scarious on the margin. 

 Lower palea slightly 5-nerved. 



Meadows and fields. Fl. June. A naturalized grass, of European origin ; now quite com- 

 mon in the Northern and Middle States. It is considered a much more valuable species than 

 the preceding. 



38(a). DIPLACHNE.* Beauv. Agrost. p. 80. t. 16. /. 9. diplachne. 



[ From the Greek, diploos, double, and achne, chaff ; the outer palea being somewhat divided at the extremity.] 



Spikelets at first terete, 7 - 9-flowered. Palea? unequal, mucronate, villous on the margins : 

 lower one slightly bifid at the tip, with a straight bristle between the teeth, 3-nerved ; the 

 upper bifid, flat on the back. Stamens 3 : anthers small. Stigmas simply plumose. 

 Pericarp loose ! Seed not sulcate. — Panicle somewhat secund ; the branches spikelike, 

 expanding. 



1. Diplachne fascicularis, Beauv. Cluster -flowered Diplachne. 



Beauv. I. c. Festuca fascicularis, Lam. ill. 1. p. 189; Torr. fl. 1. p. 122; Beck, hot. p. 

 406. F. multiflora, Walt. fl. Car. p. 81 ? F. polystachya, Michx. fl. 1. p. 66 ; Pursh, fl. 

 1. p. 83 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 169. t. 10. /. 3. F. procumbens, Muhl. grain, p. 160. Leptochloa 

 polystachya, Kunth, enum. 1. p. 271. 



Annual. Culm 8-15 inches long, much branched from the base, and procumbent ; the 

 branches geniculate. Leaves much longer than the culm, narrow, tapering to a long slender 

 point : sheaths long and loose, compressed, smooth : ligule lacerate. Panicle erect ; the 

 branches composed of many simple spiked racemes. Spikelets secund, on short pedicels, 

 about 5 lines long. Glumes lanceolate, acuminate, one-nerved, roughish on the keel ; the 

 upper one much longer. Lower palea ovate-lanceolate, strongly 3-nerved ; the middle nerve 

 produced beyond the point into a bristle, which is two-thirds the length of the palea : upper 

 palea much shorter. Styles very short. Pericarp membranaceous, loosely investing the 

 oblong seed. 



Brackish meadows and sandy soils near the salt water. Seacoast of Long Island, and in 

 the neighborhood of New-York. Fl. August. After a careful re-examination of this grass, 

 I am convinced that it is not a true Festuca, and that the genus Diplachne of Beauvois, of 

 which it is the type, should be restored. 



* Omitted in the Conspectus. 



