Part 206 (1/2)

60. UNOLA, L. SPIKE-GRa.s.s. (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 (--2' long), ovate or oblong, 9--30-flowered; panicle open._

1. U. paniculata, L. (SEA OATS.) Culm and panicle elongated (4--8 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 sh.o.r.e, S. Va. and southward.

2. U. latiflia, Michx. (Pl. 11, fig. 1--3) Culm 2--4 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 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-GRa.s.s. (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 dicious, rather large. Leaves crowded, involute, usually rigid. (Name from d?st????, _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 sh.o.r.es. 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 GRa.s.s. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets several-flowered, crowded in one-sided cl.u.s.ters, 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 gra.s.s with digitate spikes, from d??t????, _a finger_.)

D. GLOMERaTA, L. Rough, rather glaucous (3 high); leaves broadly linear; branches of the panicle naked at base; spikelets 3--4-flowered.--Fields and yards, especially in shade. June. (Nat. from Eu.)

63. BRZA, L. QUAKING GRa.s.s. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets many-flowered, ovate or heart-shaped, flattish-tumid; the flowers closely imbricated. Glumes roundish, unequal, purplish, very concave or ventricose, 3--5-nerved; the flowering ventricose on the back, heart-shaped at the base, papery-membranaceous and becoming dry, scarious-margined, obscurely many-nerved; the palet much smaller, ovate, flat. Stamens 3. Stigmas branched-plumose. Grain flattened parallel with the glumes, adhering to the palet.--Leaves flat; panicle loose, diffuse, with large showy spikelets often drooping on delicate pedicels. (????a, the Greek name of a kind of grain.)

B. MeDIA, L. Panicle erect, the branches spreading; spikelets 5--9-flowered (3” long); lower glumes shorter than the first flowering one; root perennial.--Pastures; sparingly eastward. June. (Adv. from Eu.)

64. PA, L. MEADOW-GRa.s.s. SPEAR-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets ovate or lance-ovate, laterally compressed, several- (2--10-) flowered, in an open panicle. Empty glumes mostly shorter than the flowers, the lower smaller; flowering glume membranaceo-herbaceous, with a delicate scarious margin, compressed-keeled, pointless, 5-nerved (the intermediate nerves more obscure or obsolete), the princ.i.p.al nerves commonly clothed with soft hairs at and toward the often cobwebby base; palet membranaceous, 2-toothed. Stamens 2 or 3. Stigmas simply plumose.

Grain oblong, free.--Culms tufted, from perennial roots, except n. 1.

Leaves smooth, usually flat and soft. (??a, an ancient Greek name for gra.s.s or fodder.)

[*] _Low and spreading (3--6' high) from an annual or biennial root, flaccid; branches of the short panicle single or in pairs._

P. aNNUA, L. (LOW SPEAR-GRa.s.s.) Culms flattened; panicle often 1-sided, usually short and pyramidal, sometimes more slender (P.

cristata, _Chapm._); spikelets crowded, very short-pedicelled, 3--7-flowered.--Cultivated and waste grounds, everywhere. April--Oct.