Part 203 (1/2)

8. C. Pickeringii, Gray. Culm 1--1 high; _leaves short; panicle pyramidal_, purplish; glumes ovate-oblong, bluntish or bluntly pointed (1--2” long); _hairs both of the flower and of the rudiment very short_ and scanty, one fourth or fifth the length of the flower, none behind the obtuse flowering glume, which bears between its middle and base a short stout (straight or bent, not twisted) awn. (Deyeuxia Pickeringii, _Vasey_.)--White Mts., in the alpine region of Mt.

Was.h.i.+ngton, and a more luxuriant form with smaller spikelets at Echo Lake, Franconia; Andover, Ma.s.s. (_J. Robinson_); Cape Breton.

-- 2. CALAMOViLFA. _Rudiment of second flower wanting; glumes and palet rather chartaceous, compressed-keeled; flowering glume 1-nerved, entirely awnless; palet strongly 2-keeled; panicle at length open and loose._

9. C. brevipilis, Gray. Branches of the diffuse pyramidal panicle capillary (purplish); empty _glumes orate_, mucronate; the upper slightly, the lower nearly one half shorter than the _flowering glume and palet_, which are _more than twice the length of the hairs and bristly-bearded along the keels_. (Ammophila brevipilis, _Benth._)--Sandy swamps, pine-barrens of N. J.; rare. Sept.--Culm 2--4 high; leaves nearly flat; spikelets 2” long.

10. C. longiflia, Hook. Culm (1--4 high) stout, from thick running rootstocks; _leaves rigid, elongated, involute_ above and tapering into a long thread-like point; panicle at first close, becoming open and pyramidal, the branches smooth; _glumes lanceolate_, the upper as long as the flower, the lower shorter; _the copious hairs more than half the length of the naked flower_. (Ammophila longifolia, _Benth._)--Sands, along the upper Great Lakes, from Ill. and Mich. to Dak., Kan., and westward. Aug.--Spikelets 2--3” long.

34. AMMoPHILA, Host. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets large, in a contracted spike-like panicle, 1-flowered, with a pedicel-like rudiment of a second flower (plumose above), the flower hairy-tufted at base. Empty glumes scarious-chartaceous, lanceolate, compressed-keeled, nearly equal; flowering glume and palet similar, a little shorter, the glume 5-nerved, slightly mucronate or obscurely awned near the tip, the palet 2-keeled.--A coa.r.s.e perennial maritime species, with running rootstocks. (Name from ???, _sand_, and f????, _to love_.)

1. A. arundinacea, Host. (SEA SAND-REED.) Culm stout and rigid (2--3 high) from firm running rootstocks; leaves long, soon involute; panicle contracted into a dense cylindrical spike (5--9' long); spikelets 5--6”

long; hairs only one third of the length of the flower. (Calamagrostis arenaria, _Roth_.)--Sandy beaches, N. J. to Maine and northward, and on the Great Lakes. Aug. (Eu.)

35. ARRHENATHeRUM, Beauv. OAT-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 12.)

Spikelets open-panicled, 2-flowered, with the rudiment of a third flower; the middle flower perfect, its glume barely bristle-pointed from near the tip; the lowest flower staminate only, bearing a long bent awn below the middle of the back (whence the name, from ?????, _masculine_, and ????, _awn_);--otherwise as in Avena, of which it is only a peculiar modification.

A. AVENaCEUM, Beauv. Root perennial; culm 2--4 high; leaves broad, flat; panicle elongated; glumes scarious, very unequal.--Meadows and lots; absurdly called _Gra.s.s of the Andes_. May--July. (Nat from Eu.)

36. HoLCUS, L. (partly). MEADOW SOFT-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 12.)

Spikelets crowded in an open panicle, 2-flowered; the boat-shaped membranaceous glumes enclosing and much exceeding the remotish flowers.

Lower flower perfect, its papery or thin-coriaceous glume awnless and pointless; the upper flower staminate, otherwise similar, but bearing a stout bent awn below the apex. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base.

Grain free. (A name in Pliny for a kind of gra.s.s, from ?????, _attractive_, of obscure application.)

H. LANaTUS, L. (VELVET-GRa.s.s.) Perennial, soft-downy and pale; panicle oblong; upper empty glume mucronate-awned under the apex; awn of the staminate flower curved.--Moist meadows. June. (Nat. from Eu.)

37. ARA, L. HAIR-GRa.s.s.

Spikelets very small, in an open diffuse panicle, of 2 perfect contiguous flowers. Glumes thin-membranaceous, the two lower persistent, nearly equal, acute, keeled; the flowering ones obscurely nerved, acutely 2-cleft at the apex, bearing a slender twisted awn below the middle. Stamens 3. Styles plumose to the base. Grain oblong, adnate.--Low annuals, with short setaceous leaves. (An ancient Greek name for Darnel.)

A. CARYOPHLLEA, L. Culms 5--10' high, bearing _a very diffuse panicle_ of purplish and at length _silvery scarious spikelets_.--Dry fields, Nantucket; also Newcastle, Del., _W. M. Canby_. (Nat. from Eu.)

A. PRae'c.o.x, L. Culms tufted, 3--4' high; branches of the _small and dense panicle_ appressed; awn from below the middle of the glume.--Sandy fields, N. J. to Va.; rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

38. DESCHaMPSIA, Beauv. (Pl. 12.)

Spikelets small, panicled, of 2 perfect flowers and the hairy pedicel or rudiment of a third (rarely staminate); rhachis hairy. Empty glumes persistent, membranaceous and s.h.i.+ning, carinate, acute, nearly equal; flowering glumes toothed or erose-denticulate at the truncate summit, usually delicately 3--5-nerved, with a slender twisted awn near or below the middle. Grain oblong, free.--Root perennial. (Named for Loiseleur-_Deslongchamps_, a French botanist.)

[*] _Empty glumes somewhat shorter than the flowers._

1. D. flexusa, Trin. (COMMON HAIR-GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 12, fig. 1--3.) Culms slender, nearly naked (1--3 high) above the small tufts of _involute bristle-form root-leaves_ (1--6' long); branches of the small spreading panicle capillary; _awn longer than the palet, at length bent and twisted_. (Aira flexuosa, _L._)--Dry places; common. June. (Eu.)