376 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



Mexican Muhlenbergia. 



JZooi perennial, creeping. <7«.Zms erect or ascending, 1-2 or 3 feet high, slender and 

 wiry, with numerous sv/elling nodes, much branched and leafy above, often becoming 

 nearly nalced below. Leaves 2-4 or 5 inches long, lance-linear, acute, nerved, scabrous, 

 especially on the upper surface ; sheaths smooth, compressed and but partially embracing 

 the culm ; ligule short, obtuse and lacerate. Panicles numerous, 2- 3 inches in length, 

 contracted and rather dense-flowered, — ^the lateral ones partly sheathed at base. Glumes 

 narrow-lanceolate, with scarious margins and a subulate point. Palece usually longer than 

 the glumes (sometimes twice as long) , the lower one occasionally terminating in an awn. 



Moist grounds, borders of fields and woodlands. Fl. August. Fr. September. 



Obs. This species affords an indifferent pasture in the latter part of 

 summer ; but it is not of much worth. It is better to supersede these — 

 and all grasses of inferior quality — by the introduction of more valua- 

 ble ones, and it can be done by the aid of lime and manure. When the 

 soil is enriched and properly managed, the better kinds of natural 

 Grasses (especially Poa and Festuca) soon come in spontaneously and 

 expel the others. 



8. CALAMAGROS'TIS, Adans. Reed Bent-Grass. 



[Greek, Kalamos, a reed, and Agrostis ; from its afhnity to both.] 



Spikelets in an open or contracted, sometimes spiked panicle, 1-flowered, 

 and often with a rudiment or pedicel of an abortive second Jioret. 

 Glumes commonly nearly equal, keeled, often acute and longer than the 

 floret which is invested at base by a tuft of white hairs. Lower palea 

 mostly awned on the back ; the upper shorter, with the rudimentary, 

 often plumose, pedicel at its base. Stamens 3. Perennials with running 

 root-stocks and mostly tall, simple rigid culms. 



1. C. Canaden'sis, Beauv. Panicle loose, oblong, often purplish ; lower 

 palea rather shorter than the lanceolate acute glumes, not exceeding 

 the very fine hairs, bearing an extremely delicate awn below the mid- 

 dle ; rudimentary pedicel minute. 



Caxadian Calamagrostis. Blue Joint-grass. Canadian ^mall Reed. 



<7«Zm 3 - 5 feet high. Leaves 1 foot long and about of an inch wide, flat, glaucous, 

 slightly pubescent above, smoothish underneath. Awn scarcely equalling or exceeding 

 the hairs. Glumes rough, about 1)4 lines long. 



Wet grounds : common north and west. 



Obs. This species is considered by some as an excellent and nutritious 

 grass. According to Whitney's Geological Report, it is abundant and 

 valued about Lake Superior ; the yield is said to be abundant, and it is 

 greedily eaten by cattle. 



2. C. arena'ria, I^oth. Culm rigid, from long stout running root- 

 stocks ; leaves soon involute ; glumes nearly equal, keeled ; palesB 

 shorter than the glumes, the lower 5-nerved, mucronato or olDSCurely 

 awned near the tip, surrounded by short hairs at the base ; panicle 

 spike-like, contracted ; spikelets large. 



Sand Calamagrostis. Sea-Sand Reed. Beach Grass. Mat Grass. 



