Chapter C: DACTYLON, Pers. Spikes 3--5; flowering glume smooth, longer than the

blunt rudiment.--Penn., and southward, where it is cultivated for pasturage. (Nat. from Eu.)

43. CTENIUM, Panzer. TOOTHACHE-GRASS. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets densely imbricated in two rows on one side of the flat curved rhachis of the solitary terminal spike. Glumes persistent; the lower (interior) much smaller; the other concave below, bearing a stout recurved awn, like a horn, on the middle of the back. Flowers 4--6, all but one neutral; the one or two lower consisting of empty awned glumes, and the one or two uppermost of empty awnless glumes; the perfect flower intermediate, its glume membranaceous, awned or mucronate below the apex and densely ciliate toward the base, 3-nerved. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. (Name [Greek: kteni/on], _a small comb_, from the pectinate appearance of the spike.)

1. C. Americanum, Spreng. Culm (3--4 deg. high from a perennial root) simple, pubescent or roughish; larger glume warty-glandular outside, conspicuously awned.--Wet pine-barrens, S. Va. and southward.--Taste very pungent.

44. GYMNOPOGON, Beauv. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets of one perfect flower, and the rudiment of a second (consisting of an awn-like pedicel mostly bearing a naked bristle), sessile and remotely alternate on long filiform rays or spikes, which form a crowded naked raceme. Glumes lance-awl-shaped, keeled, almost equal, rather longer than the membranaceous flowering glume, which is cylindrical-involute, with the midrib produced from just below the 2-cleft apex into a straight and slender bristle-like awn; palet nearly as long, with the abortive rudiment at its base. Stamens 3. Stigmas pencil-form, purple.--Root perennial. Leaves short and flat, thickish, 1--3' long. (Name composed of [Greek: gymno/s], _naked_, and [Greek: po/gon], a _beard_, alluding to the reduction of the abortive flower to a bare awn.)

1. G. racemosus, Beauv. (Pl. 9, fig. 1, 2.) Culms clustered from a short rootstock (1 deg. high), wiry, leafy; leaves oblong-lanceolate; _spikes flower-bearing to the base_ (5--8' long), soon divergent; awn of the abortive flower shorter than its stalk, equalling the _pointed glumes_, not more than half the length of the awn of the fertile flower.--Sandy pine-barrens, N. J. to Va., and southward. Aug., Sept.

2. G. brevifolius, Trin. Filiform _spikes long-peduncled, i.e. flower-bearing_ only above the middle; flowering glume ciliate near the base, short-awned; _awn of the abortive flower obsolete or minute; glumes acute_.--Sussex Co., Del., and southward.

45. SCHEDONNARDUS, Steud. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets small, acuminate, 1-flowered, appressed-sessile and scattered along one side of the slender rhachis of the distant sessile and divaricately spreading spikes. Empty glumes persistent, narrow, acuminate, more or less unequal, the longer usually a little shorter than the rather rigid acuminate flowering one. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain linear.--A low slender annual, branching from the base, with short narrow leaves. (Name from [Greek: schedo/n], _near_, and _Nardus_, from its resemblance to that genus.)

1. S. Texanus, Steud. Stem (6--20' long) naked and curved above, bearing 3--9 racemosely disposed thread-like and triangular spikes 1--3' long; spikelets 11/2'' long. (Lepturus paniculatus, _Nutt._)--Open grounds and salt-licks, Ill. to Mont., Col., and Tex. Aug.

46. BOUTELOUA, Lagasca. MUSKIT-GRASS. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets crowded and closely sessile in 2 rows on one side of a flattened rhachis, comprising one perfect flower below and one or more sterile (mostly neutral) or rudimentary flowers. Glumes convex-keeled, the lower one shorter. Perfect flower with the 3-nerved glume 3-toothed or cleft at the apex, the 2-nerved palet 2-toothed; the teeth, at least of the former, pointed or subulate-awned. Stamens 3; anthers orange-colored or red.--Rudimentary flowers mostly 1--3-awned. Spikes solitary, racemed or spiked; the rhachis somewhat extended beyond the spikelets. (Named for _Claudius Boutelou_, a Spanish writer upon floriculture and agriculture.)

Sec. 1. CHONDROSIUM. _Spikes pectinate, of very many spikelets, oblong or linear, very dense, solitary and terminal or few in a raceme; sterile flowers 1--3 on a short pedicel, neutral, consisting of 1--3 scales and awns._

1. B. oligostachya, Torr. Glabrous, perennial (6--12' high); _leaves very narrow_; spikes 1--5, the rhachis glabrous; _glumes all sparingly soft-hairy_, the lobes awl-pointed; _sterile flower copiously villous-tufted_ at the summit of the naked pedicel, its 3 awns equalling the larger glume.--N. W. Wisc. to Dak., and south to Tex. and Mex.--Glumes obscurely if at all papillose along the keel, the middle lobe of the flowering one 2-cleft at the tip. Sterile flowers often 2, the second mostly a large awnless scale, becoming hood-like and coriaceous.

2. _B. hirsuta_, Lag. Tufted (8--20' high), perennial; _leaves flat, lance-linear_, papillose-hairy or glabrous; spikes 1--4; _upper empty glume hispid_ with strong bristles _from dark warty glands; flowering glume pubescent_, 3-cleft into awl-pointed lobes; _sterile flower and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns longer than the glumes_ and fertile flower.--Sandy plains, Ill., Wisc., Minn., and southwestward to Mex.

Sec. 2. ATHEROPOGON. _Spikes short, numerous in a long and virgate one-sided spike or raceme, spreading or reflexed, each of few (4--12) spikelets; sterile flowers neutral, rudimentary._

3. B. racemosa, Lag. (Pl. 9, fig. 1, 2.) Culms tufted from perennial rootstocks (1--3 deg. high); sheaths often hairy; leaves narrow; spikes 1/2' or less in length, nearly sessile, 20--60 in number in a loose general spike (8--15' long); flowers scabrous; glume of the fertile with 3 short awl pointed teeth; sterile flower reduced to a single small awn, or mostly to 3 awns shorter than the fertile flower, and 1 or 2 small or minute scales. (B. curtipendula, _Gray_.)--Dry hills and plains, southern N. Y. to Minn., and south to Tex. and Mex. July--Sept.--Passes by transitions into var. ARISTOSA, with spikes shorter; sterile flower of a large saccate glume, awned at the 2-cleft tip and from the lateral nerves, the middle awn exserted, and with a rudiment of a palet.--Ill. (_Geyer_), and southward.

47. ELEUSINE, Gaertn. CRAB-GRASS. YARD-GRASS. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets 2--6-flowered, with a terminal imperfect flower or naked rudiment, closely imbricate-spiked on one side of a flattish rhachis; the spikes digitate. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the flowers; flowering glume and palet awnless, the glume ovate, keeled, larger than the palet. Stamens 3. Pericarp (utricle) containing a loose wrinkled seed.--Low annuals, with flat leaves, and flowers much as in Poa. (Name from [Greek: E)leusi/n], the town where Ceres, the goddess of harvests, was worshipped.)

E. INDICA, Gaertn. (DOG'S-TAIL or WIRE GRASS.) (Pl. 9, fig. 1--6.) Culms ascending, flattened; spikes 2--5 (about 2' long, greenish); glumes pointless; terminal flower a mere rudiment.--Yards, etc., chiefly southward. (Nat. from Ind.?)

E. AEGYPTIACA, Pers. (Pl. 9, fig. 1--4, as Dactyloctenium.) Culms often creeping at base; leaves ciliate at base; spikes 4--5; lower glume awned and the flowering one pointed. (Dactyloctenium AEgyptiacum, _Willd._)--Cultivated fields and yards, Va., Ill., and southward. (Adv. from Afr.?)

48. LEPTOCHLOA, Beauv. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets 3--many-flowered (the uppermost flower imperfect), loosely spiked on one side of a long filiform rhachis; the spikes racemed. Glumes menbranaceous, keeled, rarely awned, nearly equal; flowering glume 3-nerved, sometimes simply awned, larger than the palet. Stamens 2 or 3. Seed closely enclosed.--Ours annuals. Leaves flat. (Name composed of [Greek: lepto/s], _slender_, and [Greek: chlo/a], _grass_, from the long attenuated spikes.)

1. L. mucronata, Kunth. Sheaths hairy; spikes numerous (20--40, 2--4' in length), in a long panicle-like raceme; spikelets small; glumes more or less mucronate, nearly equalling or exceeding the 3--4 awnless flowers.--Fields, Va. to Ill., Mo., and southward. Aug.

49. BUCHLOE, Engelm. BUFFALO GRASS. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets dioecious (rarely monoecious), very unlike; the staminate 2--3-flowered, sessile in 2 rows in short 1-sided spikes, the empty glumes blunt, 1-nerved, very unequal, the flowering larger, 3-nerved, a little exceeding the 2-nerved palet; fertile spikelets 1-flowered, in a contracted, capitate, 1-sided spike, the large outer glumes indurated, 3-fid at the apex, united at base and resembling an involucre, the inner (lower) much smaller and membranaceous, or in the lowest spikelet resembling the outer; flowering glume narrow, hyaline, bifid or nearly entire, enclosing the 2-nerved palet. Styles distinct. Grain ovate, free.--A perennial, creeping or stoloniferous, with narrow flat leaves; staminate spikes (2--3) in a pedunculate spike, the pistillate pair sessile in the broad sheaths of the upper leaves. (Name a contraction of _Bubalochloe_, from [Greek: bou/balos], _buffalo_, and [Greek: chlo/e], _grass_.)

1. B. dactyloides, Engelm. Low (3--8' high) and broadly tufted; sterile spikes 3--6'' long, the fertile heads 3'' long.--Plains of the Sask. to Minn., Kan., and Tex. One of the most valuable grasses of the plains.

50. TRIODIA, R. Br. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 3--12-flowered, somewhat terete, the rhachis with bearded joints; terminal flower abortive. Empty glumes unequal; flowering glumes membranaceous or somewhat chartaceous, much larger than the 2-toothed palet, convex, 2--3-toothed or cleft at the apex, conspicuously hairy-bearded or villous on the 3 strong nerves, of which the lateral are marginal or nearly so and usually excurrent, as is the mid-nerve especially, into a short cusp or awn. Stamens 3. Stigmas dark purple, plumose. Grain oblong, nearly gibbous.--Leaves taper-pointed; sheaths bearded at the throat. Panicle simple or compound; the spikelets often racemose, purplish. (Name from [Greek: tri]-, _three_, and [Greek: o)dou/s], _a tooth_, alluding to the flowering glume.)

Sec. 1. TRIODIA proper. _Glumes shorter than the crowded flowers, the flowering one 3-cuspidate by the projection of the nerves, and usually with intermediate membranaceous teeth; palet naked._

1. T. cuprea, Jacq. (TALL RED-TOP.) Perennial; culm upright (3--5 deg. high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves; panicle large and compound, the rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below; spikelets very numerous, 5--7-flowered, shining, purple (4'' long); the flowering glumes hairy toward the base, their points almost equal, scarcely exceeding the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. (Tricuspis seslerioides, _Torr._)--Dry or sandy fields, southern N. Y. to Mo., and southward. Aug.--A showy grass, with the spreading panicle sometimes 1 deg. wide.

Sec. 2. TRIPLASIS. _Glumes much shorter than the somewhat remote flowers; flowering glume and palet strongly fringe-bearded, the glume 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the truncate or awn-pointed divisions._

2. T. purpurea, Hack. (SAND-GRASS.) Culms many in a tuft from the same annual root, ascending (6--12' high), with numerous bearded joints; leaves involute-awl-shaped, mostly short; panicles very simple, bearing few 2--5-flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually exserted, the axillary ones included in the commonly hairy sheaths; _awn much shorter than the glume, seldom exceeding its eroded-truncate or obtuse lateral lobes_. (Tricuspis purpurea, _Gray_.)--In sand, Mass. to Va. along the coast, and southward; also L. Erie, near Buffalo, and Ill. Aug., Sept.--Plant acid to the taste.

51. DIPLACHNE, Beauv. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets several-flowered, narrow, erect and scattered along the slender rhachis of the long spicate spikes; flowers all perfect or the uppermost staminate. Empty glumes membranaceous, carinate, acute, unequal; flowering glume slightly longer, 1--3-nerved, 2-toothed, and mucronate or shortly awned between the teeth. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain free.--Coarse grasses, with narrow flat leaves, and several or many slender spikes sessile upon an elongated peduncle. (Name from [Greek: diplo/os], _double_, and [Greek: a)/chne], in the sense of _chaff_, with reference to the 2-lobed glume.)

1. D. fascicularis, Beauv. Smooth; leaves longer than the geniculate-decumbent and branching culms, the upper sheathing the base of the panicle-like spike, which is composed of many strict spikes (3--5' long); spikelets slightly pedicelled, 7--11-flowered, much longer than the lanceolate glumes; flowers hairy-margined toward the base, the glume with 2 small lateral teeth and a short awn in the cleft of the apex. (Leptochloa fascicularis, _Gray_.)--Brackish meadows, from R. I. southward along the coast, and from Ill. southward on the Mississippi. Aug.--Sept.

52. PHRAGMITES, Trin. REED. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 3--7-flowered; the flowers rather distant, silky-villous at base, and with a conspicuous silky-bearded rhachis, all perfect and 3-androus, except the lowest, which is either neutral or with 1--3 stamens, and naked. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the flowers, lanceolate, keeled, sharp-pointed, very unequal; flowering glume and palet membranaceous, slender, the glume narrowly awl-shaped, thrice the length of the palet. Squamulae 2, large. Styles long. Grain free.--Tall and stout perennials, with long running root-stocks, numerous broad leaves, and a large terminal panicle. ([Greek: Phragmi/tes], _growing in hedges_, which this aquatic grass does not.)

1. P. communis, Trin. Panicle loose, nodding; spikelets 3--5-flowered; flowers equalling the beard.--Edges of ponds. Sept.--Looks like Broom-Corn at a distance, 5--12 deg. high; leaves 2' wide. (Eu.)

53. ARUNDO, L.

Flowers all perfect; flowering glume bifid, short-awned between the teeth. Otherwise as Phragmites. (The Latin name of the species.)

A. DONAX, L. Very tall (10--18 deg.); spikelets 3--4-flowered.--Closely resembling Phragmites communis. Cultivated for ornament, and naturalized in Bedford Co., Va. (_A. H. Curtiss._) (Nat. from Eu.)

54. MUNROA, Torr. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets usually 3-flowered, few (2--4) and nearly sessile in the axils of floral leaves; flowers perfect, or the uppermost abortive. Empty glumes lanceolate, acute, hyaline and 1-nerved; flowering glumes larger, 3-nerved, rather rigid, the mid-nerve stout, excurrent, the lateral ones scarcely so.--Low or prostrate many-stemmed annuals, fasciculately branched, with crowded short flat rigid or pungent leaves, the short sheaths strongly striate. (Named for the English agrostologist, Maj.-Gen. _William Munro_.)

1. M. squarrosa, Torr. Glaucous, somewhat pubescent and villous at the nodes or glabrous; leaves 3--12'' long.--Dry plains, central Kan. to Dak., west to Mont., Utah, and New Mex.

55. KOELERIA, Pers. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 3--7-flowered, crowded in a dense and narrow spike-like panicle. Glumes membranaceous, compressed-keeled, obscurely 3-nerved, barely acute, or the flowering glume often mucronate or bristle-pointed; the empty ones moderately unequal, nearly as long as the spikelet. Stamens 3. Grain free.--Tufted with simple upright culms, the sheaths often downy; allied to Dactylis and Poa. (Named for Prof. _G. L. Koeler_, an early writer on Grasses.)

1. K. cristata, Pers. Culms 1--2 deg. high; leaves flat, the lower sparingly hairy or ciliate; panicle narrowly spiked, interrupted or lobed at base; spikelets 2--4-flowered; flowering glume acute or mucronate.--Var. GRACILIS, Gray, with a long and narrow spike, the flowers usually barely acute.--Dry hills, Penn. to Ill. and Kan., thence north and westward. (Eu.)

56. EATONIA, Raf. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets usually 2-flowered, with an abortive rudiment or pedicel, numerous, in a contracted or slender panicle, very smooth. Empty glumes somewhat equal in length, but very dissimilar, a little shorter than the flowers; the lower narrowly linear, keeled, 1-nerved; the upper broadly obovate, folded round the flowers, 3-nerved on the back, not keeled, scarious-margined. Flowering glume oblong, obtuse, compressed-boat-shaped, naked, chartaceous; the palet very thin and hyaline. Stamens 3. Grain linear-oblong, not grooved.--Perennial, tall and slender grasses, with simple tufted culms, and often sparsely downy sheaths, flat lower leaves, and small greenish (rarely purplish) spikelets. (Named for Prof. _Amos Eaton_, author of a popular Manual of the Botany of the United States, which was for a long time the only general work available for students in this country, and of other popular treatises.)

[*] _Upper empty glume rounded-obovate and very obtuse; panicle usually dense._

1. E. obtusata, Gray. (Pl. 10.) Panicle dense and contracted, somewhat interrupted, rarely slender; the spikelets crowded on the short erect branches; upper glume rough on the back; flowers lance-oblong.--Dry soil, N. Penn. to Fla., Mich., and far westward. June, July.

[*][*] _Glume narrower, sometimes acutish; panicle more loose and slender._

2. E. Pennsylvanica, Gray. Leaves mostly 3--6' long; panicle long and slender, loose, the racemose branches lax and somewhat elongated; glumes thin and broadly scarious, the lowest half the length of the flower, very narrow, the upper obtuse or bluntly somewhat pointed; the 2 (rarely 3) flowers lanceolate, with pointed glumes.--Varies, with a fuller panicle, 6--8' long, with the aspect of Cinna (var. MAJOR, _Torr._); and, rarely, with the lower palet minutely mucronate-pointed!--Moist woods and meadows; common.

3. E. Dudleyi, Vasey. Culms very slender; leaves shorter, 1--2' long; panicle very slender, the branches few, short and mostly appressed; empty glumes nearly equal, the lower oblong, the upper broadly elliptical, apiculate; flowering glumes shorter than in n. 2, acutish.--Long Island to central N. Y., south to S. C.

57. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 2--70-flowered, nearly as in Poa, except that the flowering glume is but 3- (rarely 1-) nerved, not webby-haired at the base, and is deciduous; palet persistent on the rhachis after the rest of the flower has fallen.--Culms often branching. Leaves linear, frequently involute, and the ligule or throat of the sheath bearded with long villous hairs. Panicle various. (Name from [Greek: e)~r], _spring_, and [Greek: a)/grostis], _a grass_.)

[*] _Prostrate and creeping, much branched; root annual; spikelets flat, imperfectly dioecious, clustered, almost sessile, in the more fertile plant almost capitate._

1. E. reptans, Nees. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, 10--30-flowered; flowers lance-ovate, acute; leaves short, almost awl-shaped.--Gravelly river-borders; common. Aug.--Flowering branches 2--5' high.

[*][*] _Diffusely spreading, or the flowering culms ascending, low (6--15' high), annual; spikelets often large, flat, forming a narrow crowded panicle._

E. MINOR, Host. Sheaths often hairy; leaves flat, smooth; spikelets short-pedicelled, lance- or oblong-linear, 8--20-flowered, lead-colored (2--5'' long); flowers ovate, obtuse, the lateral nerves becoming evident, and keel smooth. (E. poaeoides, _Beauv._)--Sandy waste places, eastward; rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

E. MAJOR, Host. Sheaths mostly glabrous; spikelets larger (3--10'' long), becoming linear, whitish when old, 10--50-flowered; flowers more spreading, their glumes larger, with very strong lateral nerves and rough on the keel. (E. poaeoides, var. megastachya, _Gray_.)--Similar situations, and more common. Aug.--Emits a sharp, unpleasant odor. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*][*] _Erect, or in group [+] diffusely spreading and ascending; panicle open, its branches capillary; spikelets proportionally small, sometimes minute. (Number of flowers in the spikelet very variable, according to age, etc.)_

[+] _Annual; culms slender, branching and decumbent or spreading at base; leaves narrow, flat, soft; branches of the narrow panicle rather short and thickly-flowered, not bearded in the axils, or sometimes the lowest sparingly._

E. PILOSA, Beauv. (Pl. 10, fig. 1--4.) Panicle elongated-oblong, with rather erect branches (except at flowering-time); _spikelets_ 5--12-flowered (2--4'' long, purplish-lead-color), becoming linear, _about equalling their pedicels; empty glumes_ (small) _and flowering ones obtuse_, the latter broadly ovate, _1-nerved_ (lateral nerves obsolete).--Sandy or gravelly waste places, S. New Eng. to Ill., and southward. Aug.--Plant 6--12' high. (Nat. from Eu.)

2. E. Frankii, Meyer. Much branched and diffuse (3--8' high); panicle ovate-oblong, rather dense, spreading; _spikelets 2--5-flowered_ (1--11/2'' long), _on slender pedicels; glumes very acute; the flowering one ovate, acute_, rather obscurely _3-nerved_.--Low or sandy ground, S. Penn. to Kan., and southwestward. Aug.

3. E. Purshii, Schrader. Sparingly branched at the decumbent base, then erect (1/2--2 deg. high); panicle elongated, the branches widely spreading, very loose; _spikelets 5--18-flowered_, oblong-lanceolate, at length linear (2--41/2'' long), _mostly much shorter than their capillary pedicels; glumes all ovate and acute, or the flowering ones acutish, 3-nerved_.--Sandy or sterile open grounds, Penn. to Mo., and southwestward; also introduced northward.

[++] _Culms simple, or branching only at the very base, firm, erect, mostly forming thick tufts; leaves very long; panicle very large, compound, often longer than the culm, with elongated loosely-flowered branches, their axils often bearded. (Doubtful perennials, or n. 5 annual.)_

4. E. tenuis, Gray. _Panicle virgately elongated_ (1--21/2 deg. long), very loose, the spreading branches bearded in some of the lower axils, their remote divisions and long _diverging pedicels_ capillary; spikelets 2--6- (sometimes 7--12-) flowered, pale or greenish; _lower glumes lanceolate or awl-shaped, very acute_ (11/2--2'' long), membranaceous, as are the _oblong-lanceolate acute flowers; flowering glume distinctly 3-nerved_; the upper ciliate-scabrous.--Sandy soil, Ohio to Ill., Kan., and southward. Aug.--Oct.--Leaves rather rigid, 11/2--2 deg. long, glabrous or sparingly hairy; the sheaths hairy or glabrous; the throat strongly bearded; flowers much larger than in the next, fully 11/2'' long.

5. E. capillaris, Nees. _Panicle widely expanding_, usually much longer than the culm, its spreading branches (mostly naked in the axils) and long _diverging pedicels_ capillary; _spikelets rather terete_, very small, 2--4-flowered, greenish or purplish; _glumes and flowers ovate, acute_ (less than 1'' long); _flowering glume obscurely 3-nerved_, scarcely keeled; the palet rough-ciliate.--Sandy dry soil and fields; common, especially southward. Aug., Sept.--Leaves and sheaths very hairy, or nearly glabrous; the former about 1 deg. long, not rigid; panicle 1--2 deg. long, soon diffuse.

6. E. pectinacea, Gray. _Panicle widely diffuse_, its rigid divergent main branches _bearded in the axils; the capillary pedicels more or less appressed_ on the secondary branches; _spikelets flat_, 5--15-flowered, becoming linear, purple or purplish; glumes and flowers ovate or oblong-ovate, acutish; _flowering glume strongly 3-nerved; palet hirsute-ciliate_.--Leaves long, rigid, mostly hairy, the sheaths especially so; plant 1--3 deg. high; spikelets 2--3'' long, 1'' wide, closely flowered.--Var. SPECTABILIS, Gray. Leaves and sheaths mostly glabrous; branches of the panicle (the lower reflexed with age) and pedicels shorter; spikelets rather larger.--Sandy dry ground, from E. Mass. near the coast, and from Ohio and Ill., southward. Aug.--Oct.

7. E. campestris, Trin. Glabrous or the sheaths villous at the throat; culm short, bearing an elongated and very open panicle with divaricate branches bearded at base; _spikelets_ linear, flat, 8--12-flowered, _sessile or nearly so_ along the branchlets; _glumes very acute or acuminate_, 3-nerved, roughish on the keel; palet minutely ciliate. (E. pectinacea, var. refracta, _Chapm._ Poa refracta, _Ell._)--Del. and Md. to Fla. and Ala.

58. MELICA, L. MELIC-GRASS. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 2--8-flowered; the 1--3 upper flowers imperfect and dissimilar, convolute around each other, and enwrapped by the upper fertile flower. Empty glumes usually large, scarious-margined, convex, obtuse; the upper 7--9-nerved. Flowering glume papery-membranaceous, dry and sometimes indurating with age, rounded or flattish on the back, 5--many-nerved, scarious at the entire blunt summit. Stamens 3.--Perennials with soft flat leaves. Panicle simple or sparingly branched; the rather large spikelets racemose-one-sided. (An old Italian name for Sorghum, from _mel_, honey.)

1. M. mutica, Walt. (Pl. 10.) Slender, with usually narrow leaves, the panicle often reduced to a simple raceme; lower glumes nearly equal and almost equalling the spikelet; fertile flowers usually 2; flowering glumes broad, smooth, obtuse.--Rich soil, Penn. to Fla., west to Wisc., Iowa, and Tex.

2. M. diffusa, Pursh. Taller, 21/2--4 deg. high, with mostly broader leaves and a more usually compound and many-flowered panicle; lower glumes more unequal, the outer very broad; fertile flowers usually 3; flowering glumes somewhat scabrous and more acute. (M. mutica, var. diffusa, _Gray_.)--Penn. to Ill., and southward.

(Addendum) 3. M. Porteri, Scribn. Tall and slender; panicle very narrow, the slender branches erect or the lower slightly divergent; pedicels flexuous or recurved, pubescent; glumes very unequal and shorter than the spikelet; fertile flowers 3--5, the glumes scabrous.--Mountains of Col. and southward; reported from Cass Co., Neb. (_J. G. Smith_).

59. DIARRHENA, Raf. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost flowers sterile. Empty glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous; the lower much smaller; flowering glume ovate, convex on the back, rigidly coriaceous, its 3 nerves terminating in a strong and abrupt cuspidate or awl-shaped tip. Squamulae ovate, ciliate. Stamens 2. Grain very large, obliquely ovoid, obtusely pointed, rather longer than the glume, the cartilaginous shining pericarp not adherent to the seed.--A nearly smooth perennial, with running rootstocks, producing simple culms (2--3 deg. high) with long linear-lanceolate flat leaves toward the base, naked above, bearing a few short-pedicelled spikelets (2--3'' long) in a very simple panicle. (Name composed of [Greek: di/s], _two_, and [Greek: a)/r)r(en], _man_, from the two stamens.)

1. D. Americana, Beauv. Shaded river-banks and woods, Ohio to Ill., and southward. Aug.

60. UNIOLA, L. SPIKE-GRASS. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets closely many-flowered, very flat and 2-edged; 3--6 of the lowest glumes empty, lanceolate, compressed-keeled; flowering glume coriaceo-membranaceous, strongly laterally compressed and keeled, striate-nerved, usually acute or pointed, entire, enclosing the much smaller compressed 2-keeled palet and the free laterally flattened smooth grain. Stamen 1 (or in U. paniculata 3).--Upright smooth perennials, growing in tufts from strong creeping rootstocks, with broad leaves and large spikelets in an open or spiked panicle. (Ancient name of some plant, a diminutive of _unio_, unity.)

[*] _Spikelets large (1/2--2' long), ovate or oblong, 9--30-flowered; panicle open._

1. U. paniculata, L. (SEA OATS.) Culm and panicle elongated (4--8 deg. high); _leaves narrow_, when dry convolute; _spikelets ovate, short-pedicelled_; glumes glabrous, bluntish, several of the lower sterile; stamens 3.--Sand-hills on the sea shore, S. Va. and southward.

2. U. latifolia, Michx. (Pl. 11, fig. 1--3) Culm 2--4 deg. high; panicle loose; _leaves broad_ and flat (nearly 1' wide); _spikelets_ at length _oblong, hanging on long pedicels_; glumes acute, ciliate on the keel, all but the lowest with perfect monandrous flowers.--Shaded slopes, S. Penn. to Ill., and southward.

[*][*] _Spikelets small; panicle contracted, wand-like; perfect flowers long-pointed._

3. U. gracilis, Michx. Culm 3 deg. high, slender; _spikelets short-pedicelled_ (2--3'' long), broadly wedge-shaped, acute at base, _4--8-flowered_; glumes ovate and divergently beaked, long, the 3 lowest empty.--Sandy soil, from Long Island to Va., near the coast, and southward. Aug.

61. DISTICHLIS, Raf. SPIKE-GRASS. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets and numerous flowers compressed, crowded in a densely spiked or capitate panicle. Glumes herbaceous or membranaceous, the lower faintly many-nerved; flowering glumes rather coriaceous, laterally much flattened, faintly many-nerved, acute. Ovary stalked.--Flowers dioecious, rather large. Leaves crowded, involute, usually rigid. (Name from [Greek: di/stichos], _two-ranked_.)

1. D. maritima, Raf. Culms tufted from creeping rootstocks (9--18' high); spike oblong, flattened (1' long); spikelets ovate or oblong, 5--10-flowered; glumes smooth and naked; grain pointed. (Brizopyrum spicatum, _Hook_.)--Salt marshes and shores. Aug.--Glumes of the pistillate flowers more rigid and almost keeled; stigmas very long, plumose; the staminate glumes smaller and somewhat rounded on the back. (Addendum)--Distichlis maritima. On alkaline soil in Neb., and very common in similar localities west and southwestward; chiefly the var. STRICTA, Thurb., with setaceously convolute leaves, the many- (10--20-) flowered spikelets in a loose panicle.

62. DACTYLIS, L. ORCHARD GRASS. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets several-flowered, crowded in one-sided clusters, forming a branching dense panicle. Glumes all herbaceous, keeled, awn-pointed, rough-ciliate on the keel; the flowering one 5-nerved, the upper most commonly smaller and thinner. Stamens 3. Grain lance-oblong, acute, free.--Stout tufted perennial; leaves keeled. (_Dactylos_, a name in Pliny for a grass with digitate spikes, from [Greek: da/ktylos], _a finger_.)