46 
TRIANDRIA, DIGYNIA. 
Virginiea, 
Nuttall* 
pratense. 
C. spikes oblong, thick, and lobed, generally sheath- 
ed by the inflated vaginae of 2 short leaves ; culm 
procumbent, geniculate, nodes numerous, approx- 
imating ; leaves involute, rigid, and pungent 5 
calix carinate, shorter than the corolla. 
Leaves short, filiform subulate, rigid and divaricate, almost 
entirely smooth, and somewhat glaucous ; culm decumbent 
branched from the base ; spikes closely sheathed, axillary and 
terminal, about an inch long, sometimes oblong-ovate, lateral- 
spikes often very short and roundish, rachis thick and angular 
at the base ; calix nearly equal, compressed carinate, acute, 
shorter than the corolla, ciliate on the carina (seen through a 
lens) ; corolla valves often rather unequal, inner valve some- 
what obtuse, naked at the base ; style exserted, long. Nutt^ 
1 first detected this plant growing in the streets of the su- 
burbs, and vacant corner lots of this city, and gave specimens, 
in 1816, to Mr. Collins, and subsequently to Mr. Nuttall, who 
has described it as above. Since the year 1816, 1 have found 
it more abundantly in this neighbourhood, on the turnpike 
road-sides, and in the crevices of pavements and stony ways. 
It comes very near to Cripsis aculeata, of Europe, compared 
with specimens in my herbarium ; but the leaves are not pun- 
gent. It is, however, a distinct species, but is certainly not 
Agrostis virginica of Willd. and Pursh ; for the specimens in 
my possession of this latter plant, marked by Schrader, are 
not spiked ; but bear their flowers in a dense narrow parucle . 
Indeed it it is entirely unlike the A. virginica, in every respect ; 
as Mr, Nuttall has acknowledged, on seeing my specimens, 
since the printing of his work, and, though the specific apj)ella- 
tion Virginica^ was added by Mr. Nuttall, under the impres- 
sion that the plant in question, and Agrostis Virginica, were 
the same, I have not thought it expedient to change it. Pro- 
bably introduced. Perennial. July, August. 
44, Phleum, Gen. pi. 128. ( Graminea.J 
Calix 2-valved, 1-flowered, valves linear with 
a retuse point, prominently carinate, each 
terminating in a cusp (or short awn). Corolla 
included within the calix. Nutt, 
1. P. spike cylindrical, very long, ciliate ; stem 
erect. Sp. pi. 
Icon. Host. Gram. 2. t- 31. (Pursh.) 
Timothy-grass. 
