Chapter L: TEMULENTUM, L. (BEARDED DARNEL.) Root annual; culm taller; outer

glume fully equalling the_ 5--7-flowered _spikelet; awn longer than the flower_ (1/2' long).--Grain-fields; rare. (Adv. from Eu.)

72. AGROPYRUM, Gaertn. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 3--many-flowered, compressed, 2-ranked, alternate on opposite sides of a solitary terminal spike, single at each joint (the lowermost, or all, rarely in pairs) and sessile with the side against the axis. Glumes transverse (i.e. right and left), nearly equal and opposite, lanceolate, herbaceous, nerved. Flowering glumes rigid, convex on the back, 5--7-nerved, pointed or awned from the tip; palet flattened, bristly-ciliate on the nerves, adherent to the groove of the grain. Stamens 3.--Our species rather coarse perennials, of difficult definition. (Name from [Greek: a)gro/s] _a field_, and [Greek: pyro/s], _wheat_.)

[*] _Multiplying by long running rootstocks; awn shorter than the flower or none._

1. A. repens, Beauv. (COUCH-, QUITCH-, or QUICK-GRASS.) _Spikelets 4--8-flowered, glabrous_ or nearly so; glumes 3--7-nerved; rhachis glabrous, but rough on the edges; awns when present straight; leaves flat and often roughish or pubescent above. (Triticum repens, _L._)--Nat. from Europe in cultivated grounds, fields, etc., and very troublesome; indigenous in some of its forms northwestward and on the coast.--Varies greatly. The ordinary form has a narrow spike, with 3--5-flowered spikelets, the glumes merely acute and rigid-cuspidate, or acuminate, or short-awned. A tall form, rather bright green, bears awns nearly as long as the glumes. Other forms abound, especially on or near the coast. A maritime variety, much resembling var. glaucum, _Boiss._ (A. glaucum, _R. & S._), with large crowded 5--10-flowered spikelets and glumes very blunt or mucronate, glaucous and the leaves rather rigid and pungent, occurs on the coast of Maine (Cape Elizabeth, _Tuckerman_). In the more usual form of this variety, with the large spikes often elongated (3--9') and the leaves less rigid, the glumes are acuminate or rarely short-awned. The rhachis or the whole inflorescence and the lower sheaths are sometimes very pubescent. The glabrous state, or a very similar glabrous variety, is also abundant in the western region, from Kan. and Neb. to Dak., and westward, where it is known as _Blue-joint_ or _Blue-stem_. (Eu.)

2. A. dasystachyum, Vasey. Resembling the last; glaucous; leaves narrow and often involute; the 5--9-flowered _spikelets densely downy-hairy_ all over; glumes thinner with scarious margins, mostly long-acuminate. (Triticum dasystachyum, _Gray_.)--Sandy shores of Lake Huron and Superior, and northward. Aug.

[*][*] _No obvious running rootstocks, glabrous, or the flat and roughish leaves sometimes hairy above; glumes as well as flowers mostly awned or awn-pointed._

3. A. violaceum, Lange. _Spike short, dense, strict and rigid_, usually tinged with violet or purple; spikelets 3--5-flowered; _glumes_ conspicuously 5-nerved, _rather abruptly narrowed into a cusp or short awn_. (Triticum violaceum, _Hornem._)--Alpine region of the White Mts., L. Superior, north and westward. (Eu.)--Passing into a variety with longer usually pale narrow spikes and attenuate often long-awned glumes, which sometimes approaches A. caninum. N. Brunswick, White Mts., N. H., Penn. (_Porter_), L. Superior, and westward.

4. A. caninum, R. & S. (AWNED WHEAT-GRASS.) _Spike usually more or less nodding_, at least in fruit, rather dense (3--6' long); spikelets 3--5-flowered; _glumes 3--5-nerved; awns straight or somewhat bent or spreading, fully twice the length of the palet_. (Triticum caninum, _L._)--Sparingly naturalized in cultivated ground and meadows. Indigenous along our northern borders, and westward. (Eu.)

5. A. tenerum, Vasey. Culms 1--3 deg. high; leaves narrow; spike very narrow, 2--7' long; spikelets 3--5-flowered; glumes short-acuminate.--Minn. to Kan., and very common westward.

73. LEPTURUS, R. Br.

Spikelets 1--2-flowered, solitary and alternate upon the opposite sides of a narrow spike, sessile and appressed in the concave joints. Empty glumes transverse, narrow, rigid, 5-nerved, the flowering much shorter, thin and hyaline.--Low annuals, branching at the base, with narrow leaves and rigid often curved spikes. (Name from [Greek: lepto/s], _narrow_, and [Greek: ou)ra/], _tail_, or spike.)