GRASS FAMILY. 



411 



biancbes somewLat fasciculate, erect, elongated, sl^^nder and purplish," 

 sheaths villous ; spikes on long peduncles ; the sterile ones neuter, awned. 



Broom Andropogon. Indian Grass. Purple Wood-grass. 



CwZm 3-4 feet high, rather slender, smooth, somexthat compressed . sulcate on alter- 

 nate sides of the internodes : nodes smooth ; branches long, slender, in lateral fascicles, or 

 sometimes in pairs, often subdivided. Leaves 4-8 or 12 inches long, lance-linear, acute- 

 scabrous, a little hairy and somewhat glaucous ; sheaths stviato , roughish • liguh truncate. 

 Spikes about 2 inches long ; rocMs compressed or plano-convex, pilose at the edges. Spike- 

 lets distichously arranged ; abortive spikelet minute, subulate, on a linear plumose pedicel 

 which is nearly as long as the perfect spikelet, — the floret neuter ; perfect spikelH sessile ; 

 glumes lance-linear, much acuminated, — the lower one bifid at apex ; paleae nearly equal, 

 ciliate, — the lower ? one deeply bifid, with a twisted awn between the segments. 



Old fields, sterile banks, and road-sides, throughout the United states. Fl. August. 

 Fr. September. 



Obs. This, and the other native species, are remarkably worthless 

 grasses, — and are apt to abound in poor old neglected fields. Where 

 they prevail, no further evidence is required to demonstrate the unprofit- 

 able condition of the land, or the miserable management of the occupant. 

 ^ * Spikes digitate, at the apex of the culm or branches. 



2. A. furca'tus, Muhl. Spikes digitate, generally in threes or fours ; 

 rachis hairy ; the sterile floret staminate, awnless. 

 Forked Andropogon. Finger-spiked Indian Grass. 



Culm about 4 feet high, smooth, terete below, semi-terete above, often branching ; nodes 

 smooth. Leaves 4: -S or 12 inches long, lance-linear, nerved, smoothish, scabrous on ihe 

 margin, pilose at base; sTiea^/is striate, smooth ; Zi<jf?(Ze obtuse, sometimes ovate, fringed. 

 ijjiAes 2 - 3 inches long, usually in threes or fours (sometimes 5-6) frequently purple ; 

 rachis semi-terete, pilose on the angles ; abortive spikelet on a clavate, plumose pedicel : 

 perfect spikelet sessile. Slaty hills, and sterile low grounds. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. This is one of the native species which is very worthless, — and 

 very frequent on poor, neglected, badly managed farms. The species of 

 Andropogon here given, are the most common and obtrusive ones, in our 

 poor lands, — at least in Pennsylvania. There are a few others, — par- 

 ticularly one with the spikes conjugate, in fastigiate bushy panicles (A. 

 macrourus, Mx.), — which is not unfrequent in wet, swampy meadows ; 

 but, tliough they are all equally worthless, these are scarcely of suflBcient 

 importance to require further notice in this work. 



35. SOR'GHUM, Pens. Broom Corn. Sorghum. 



[The ancient name of a cultivated species.] 



SpiMets 2-3 together on the branches of a mostly loose and open pan- 

 icle, — the lateral ones sterile, or often mere rudiments, — the middle (or 

 terminal) one only fertile. Glumes coriaceous, sometimes awnless. Sta- 

 mens 3. For the rest as in Andropogon. 



* Culms slender, fistular. 

 1. S. nu'tans, Oray. Leaves lance-linear ; ligule elongated, truncate ; 

 panicle narrowly oblong ; fertile spikes russet-brown. 

 Nodding SoRcnuM. Wood Grass. Oat-like Indian Grass. 



