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panicle contracted, densely many-flowered; glumes almost equal, bristle 
pointed, nearly as long as the lower palea, which bears an awn twice or 
thrice the length of the spikelet. Perennial; flowers in September. 
Culms 2 to 4 feet long. Rocky woods. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and 
about Lake Superior. 
27. Muhlenbergia Willdenovii. Trinius. 
Syn. —Agrostis tenuifolia, Willd. Cinna tenuifolia, Link. 
Culm upright, slender, simple, or sparingly branched ; panicle con¬ 
tracted, slender, loosely flowered; glumes slightly unequal, short-pointed, 
half the length of the lower palea, which bears an awn three or four 
times the length of the spikelet. Perennial; flowers in August. Culms 
3 feet high. Shady woods. Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. 
i 
28. Muhlenbergia Diffusa. Schreher. 
Syn. —Dilepyrum minutiflorum, Michx. Drop-seed. Nimble-wili. 
Culms diffusely much branched; panicle contracted slender, rather 
loosely many-flowered, terminal and lateral; glumes extremely minute, 
the lower obsolete, the upper truncate; awn once or twice longer than 
the paleae. Perennial; flowers in August and September. Culms 8 to 
18 inches high. Dry hills and woods. Mount Tabor, Ohio ; Michigan, 
Illinois. 
Under the name of “Nimble-wili” this is known, especially in Ken¬ 
tucky and Tennessee, as an important pasture grass, though it is never 
cultivated for that purpose. Cattle feed on it readily. It has not yet 
been observed in Wisconsin. In Mississippi it is occasionally made into 
hay with other native grasses. 
GENUS 11. BRACHYELYTRUM, Beauvois. 
[Greek ; brachys, short, and elytron, a covering, from the very short glumes.] 
Spikelets one-flowered, with a clavate pedicel or rudiment of another 
flower; glumes two, minute, the lower one scarcely perceptible, upper 
pointless, persistent, shorter than the thick stalk of the flower ; paleae 
inclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough with scattered 
short bristles; the lower 5-nerved, contracted at the apex into a long 
straight awn ; the upper two-pointed; stamens two; anthers and stigmas 
linear, elongated. 
