GRASSES OF OHIO 
281 
basal leaves often about equalling- the stems and abruptly cuspidate- 
tipped, and with an open panicle whose ascending, spreading or 
reflexed branches are spikelet-bearing at the ends. Spikelets 3-5- 
flowered; lemma webby at the base, the keel and marginal nerves 
sparingly pubescent, the intermediate nerves prominent and naked. 
In rocky woodlands. April-June. Lawrence, Perry, Medina, 
Cuyahoga, Trumbull. 
11. Poa annua L. Annual Meadow-grass. An annual grass 
with flattened stems, ft. high, decumbent at the base, with 
loose sheaths, very soft leaves, and a pyramidal panicle with open 
spreading branches. Spikelets 3-6-flowered, crowded; lemma dis¬ 
tinctly 5-nerved, the nerves hairy below. 
Cultivated and waste ground. April-October. From Europe. 
General. 
6. Dactylis L. Orchard-grass. 
Tall perennial grasses with glomerate panicles. Spikelets 2-5- 
flowered, compressed, nearly sessile, in dense capitate clusters; empty 
glumes thin-membranous, hispid-ciliate on the keel, acute or mucron- 
ate; lemmas 5-nerved, keeled, the midnerve extended into a point or 
short awn; palets 2-keeled; grain free, enclosed in the lemma and 
palet. 
1. Dactylis glomerata L. Orchard-grass. A coarse tufted 
glaucous grass with simple erect stems, 2-4 ft. high, and a panicle 
with a few stiff contracted branches, naked below and bearing dense 
one-sided clusters of spikelets at the ends. Spikelets 3-5-flowered; 
lemma 5-nerved, short-awned, rough, ciliate on the keel. 
An important hay and pasture grass cultivated to some extent. 
In fields and waste places. June, July. Naturalized from Europe. 
General; no specimens from the southeastern counties. 
7. Eragrostis Beauv. Love-grass. 
Annual or perennial grasses with the spikelets in loose or dense 
terminal panicles. Spikelets strongly flattened; 3-many-flowered; 
empty glumes unequal, shorter than the flowering ones, keeled, 1- 
nerved or the inner 3-nerved ; lemma membranous, keeled, 3-nerved; 
palet shorter, prominently 2-nerved or 2-keeled; grain free, loosely 
enclosed in the flowering glumes. 
1. Spikelets 5-35-flowered; in. long. 2 
1. Spikelets 2-5-flowered; in. or less long; annuals. 5 
2. Stems erect or ascending, simple, rigid. 1-214 ft. tall; flowers bisporangiate; 
perennials. E. pectinacca. 
