GEASS FAMILY. 



403 



Capillary or Haie-like Panicum. Old-witch Grass. 



Root annual. Culm assurgent or erect, usually 1-2 feet (occasionally only a few Inches) 

 liigh, sometimes branching. Leaves 3-8 or 10 inches long, lance-linear, rather broad, 

 acuminate, nerved, hairy ; sheaths sulcate-striate, very hirsute with spreading, whitish 

 bristly hairs ; ligule short, fringed or beard-like. Panide large and pyramidal ; branches 

 numerous, subdivided, very slender, straight, — at first erect, then spreading, finally 

 divaricate. iipzA-eZe^s small, often purple. Abortii-e floret wxthont superior palea. Per- 

 fect floret much shorter than the upper glume, lance-oblong, plano-convex, smooth and 

 shining. 



Sandy pastures, cultivated groundSTM;hroughout the United States. i^'Z. August. Fr. 

 September. 



Ohs. This worthless species flourishes most in a light sandy soil ; but 

 it is usually more or less abundant in all Indian Corn-fields, in the latter 

 part of summer. In autumn the dry culms break off, and the light di- 

 varicate panicles are rolled over the fields, by the winds, until tliey accum- 

 ulate in great quantities along the fences and hedges. 



Spikelets imbricate-spiJced on paniculate branches : lower palea of sterile 

 floret awned or mucronate. 



4. P. Crus-gal'li, L. Culms stout, smooth ; spikes alternate ; glumes 

 ovate, abruptly pointed ; lower palea of sterile flower with an awn of 

 variable length. 



Cock's-foot Paxicum. Barn-yard Grass. 



Root annual. Culm 2-5 feet high, rather coarse, smooth. Leaves 9-15 inches long, 

 lance-linear, broadish, flat, nerved, serrulate on the margin ; sheaths rather loose, com- 

 pressed, striate, smooth ; Zi^ewZe none. ^jsiA-es sub-paniculate, — the spikelets crowded in 

 dense spike-form, compound racemes on the branches. Spikelets ovoid, plano-convex, 

 echinate, awned or sometimes awnless ; lower glume short, ovate, acute, 3-nerved, — the 

 upper one as long as the perfect floret, ovate, acuminate, 5-nerved, with bristles on the 

 nerves. JVeulral floret with 2 palecB, — the lower one ovate, flat, with a scabrous awn or 

 long acumination, 5-uerved — one of the nerves central, scabrous, the others marginal, in 

 approximated pairs, presenting a double row of cartilaginous bristles, — the upper palea 

 ovate, acute, thin and membranaceous, nearly as long as the perfect floret. Perfect floret 

 plano-convex, acuminate, the palecB firm, smooth and shinmg. Grain compressed, orbicu- 

 lar, white or ash-colored. 



Moist -grounds, meadows, drains of barn-yards, &c.: introduced? Fl. August. Fr. 

 September. 



Obs Kunth gives this as an inhabitant of the four quarters of the 

 globe ; but I suspect it is a naturalized foreigner. There is a variety in 

 which the sheaths are hispid, and another in which the floral coverings 

 are awnless. It is apt to abound along the drains of crude liquid flowing 

 from barn-yards,- — and in spots which are usually designated as " wet 

 and sour." Though usually regarded as a mere weed, and worthless, yet 

 we have the authority of Mr. Flint for the remark that " some experi- 

 ments have been made to cultivate this common species in the place of 

 millet, to cut for green fodder. It is relished by stock and is very suc- 

 culent and nutritive." This vast genus (containing upwards of 400 spe- 

 cies,— a considerable number of which are indigenous, or found in our 

 country) is remarkable for the little value, or interest, which it possesses 

 in an agricultural point of view. With the exception of P. miliaceum, 

 X.— -and perhaps one or two other oriental species, which produce a kind 



