The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 202

10. S. airodes, Torr. Culm tufted, often stout, erect, --3 high; leaves strongly revolute and attenuate, rather rigid; panicle open and diffuse, broadly pyramidal, glabrous; spikelets solitary on slender pedicels, 1" long; lower glumes unequal, rather obtuse.--Neb. to Tex., and westward.

S. ASPERIFLUS, Thurb., a similar but smaller species, with thinner and shorter leaves very rough on the margin, the inflorescence scabrous, and spikelets smaller, with the glumes nearly equal, is very common westward, and probably occurs within our limits--as also S. CONFuSUS, Vasey (S. ramulosus of authors, not _Kunth_), a low slender annual, with very short culms and a delicate diffuse panicle, the very small spikelets (" long) on filiform-clavate pedicels.

[*][*][*] _Empty glumes almost equal; panicle racemose-elongated, open, the pedicels capillary; sheaths naked at the throat; spikelets not unfrequently two-flowered; perennial._

11. S. compressus, Kunth. Very smooth, _leafy to the top; culms tufted, stout, very flat_; sheaths flattened, much longer than the internodes; _leaves erect_, narrow, conduplicate-channelled; empty glumes acutish, about one third shorter than the obtuse flowering one.--Bogs, on Long Island and in the pine-barrens of N. J. Sept.--Forming strong tussocks, 1--2 high. Panicle 8--12' long; spikelets 1" long, purplish.

12. S. serotinus, Gray. Smooth; _culms very slender, flattish_ (8--15'

high), _few-leaved_; leaves very slender, channelled; _panicle soon much exserted_, the diffuse capillary branches scattered; glumes ovate, obtuse, about half the length of the flower.--Sandy wet places, Maine to N. J. and Mich. Sept.--A very delicate gra.s.s; the spikelets half a line long.

29. AGRoSTIS, L. BENT-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 7.)

Spikelets 1-flowered, in an open panicle. Empty glumes somewhat equal, or the lower rather longer, usually longer than the flowering one, pointless. Flowering glume and palet very thin, pointless, naked; the first 3--5-nerved, frequently awned on the back; the palet often minute or none. Stamens chiefly 3. Grain (caryopsis) free.--Culms usually tufted, slender; root commonly perennial. (Name from ?????, _a field_, the place of growth.)

-- 1. AGROSTIS proper. _Palet manifest, but shorter than the glume._

A. aLBA, L. (FIORIN or WHITE BENT-GRa.s.s.) Rootstocks creeping or stoloniferous; culms 1--2 high, often dec.u.mbent at base; leaves short, flat, the ligule long and acute; panicle contracted after flowering, greenish, purplish or brownish, the branches slightly rough; flowering glume nearly equalling the empty ones, 3-nerved, rarely short-awned, the palet about half as long.--Meadows and fields, a valuable gra.s.s; naturalized from Eu. and cultivated, and perhaps native north and westward.

Var. VULGaRIS, Thurb. (RED TOP. HERD'S-GRa.s.s of Penn., etc.) (Pl. 7, fig. 1, 2.) Panicle more or less spreading after flowering; ligule short and truncate. (A. vulgaris, _With._)--Low meadows and pastures; nat.

from Eu. and cultivated, also perhaps indigenous.

1. A. arachnodes, Ell. Culms (1 high) and leaves very slender; panicle open, weak and drooping; glumes nearly equal, roughish on the keel and margins, the flowering glume shorter, with 2 minute bristles at the truncate apex and a long exceedingly delicate awn on the back above the middle; palet minute.--Mo. to Ky., Tenn., and S. Car.

2. A. exarata, Trin. Culms erect, 1--2 high; leaves mostly erect; panicle narrow, crowded, greenish, the rays mostly flower-bearing to the base; spikelets 1--2" long; glumes nearly equal, acute, the flowering ones shorter, sometimes awned above the middle.--Wisc. (_Vasey_) to Sask., and far westward.

-- 2. TRICHDIUM. _Palet abortive, minute, or none._

3. A. elata, Trin. _Culms firm or stout_ (2--3 high); leaves flat (1--2" wide); upper ligules elongated (2--3" long); _spikelets crowded on the branches of the spreading panicle above the middle_ (1" long); flowering glume awnless, slightly shorter than the rather unequal lower ones; the palet wanting.--Swamps, N. J. and southward. Oct.

4. A. perennans, Tuckerm. (THIN-GRa.s.s.) _Culms slender_, erect from a dec.u.mbent base (1--2 high); leaves flat (the upper 4--6' long, 1--2"

wide); _panicle at length diffusely spreading, pale green; the branches short, divided and flower-bearing from or below the middle; flowering glume awnless_ (rarely short-awned), shorter than the unequal lower ones; the palet minute or obsolete.--Damp shaded places. July, Aug.--Spikelets, etc., as in n. 5, into which it seems to vary.

5. A. scabra, Willd. (HAIR-GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 7, fig. 3.) _Culms very slender_, erect (1--2 high); leaves short and narrow, the lower soon involute (the upper 1--3' long, less than 1" wide); _panicle very loose and divergent, purplish, the long capillary branches flower-bearing at and near the apex; flowering glume awnless or occasionally short-awned_ on the back, shorter than the rather unequal very acute empty ones; the palet minute or obsolete; root biennial?--Exsiccated places; common.

June--Aug.--Remarkable for the long and divergent capillary branches of the extremely loose panicle; these are whorled, rough with very minute bristles (under a lens), as also the keel of the glumes. Spikelets 1"

long. A dwarf mountain form occurs, growing in tufts in hollows of rocks, etc.--A variety (?) from about the White Mountains, etc. (var.

montana, _Tuckerm_.), has a more or less exserted awn.

6. A. canna, L. (BROWN BENT-GRa.s.s.) Culms 8'--2 high; root-leaves involute-bristle-form, those of the culm flat and broader; panicle loose; lower glumes slightly unequal, ovate-lanceolate, very acute, the flowering one _exsertly awned on the back_ at or below the middle; spikelets brownish or purplish, rarely pale or greenish (1--1"

long).--Meadows, sparingly naturalized eastward. A mountain form with shorter and more spreading panicle (A. Pickeringii & A. concinna, _Tuckerm_., A. canina, var. alpina, _Oakes_, & Ed. 2, and essentially A.

rubra, _L_. ex _Wahl_., and A. borealis, _Hartm._) is indigenous on mountain-tops, Maine to N. Y.; also an ampler form in the Alleghanies of Penn. and southward (A. rupestris, _Chapman_, etc.). July--Aug. (Eu.)

30. POLYPGON, Desf. BEARD-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 8.)

Spikelets 1-flowered, in a contracted, mostly spike-like panicle. Empty glumes nearly equal, long-awned, much longer than the membranaceous flowering one which is commonly short-awned below the apex. Stamens 3.

Grain free. (Name composed of p???, _much_, and p????, _beard_.)

P. MONSPELIeNSIS, Desf. Panicle interrupted; lower glumes oblong, the awn from a notch at the summit, the flowering one also awned; root annual.--Isles of Shoals (_Robbins_), ballast heaps, and southward.

(Nat. from Eu.)

31. CiNNA, L. WOOD REED-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 8.)

Spikelets 1-flowered, much flattened, crowded in an open flaccid panicle. Empty glumes persistent, lanceolate, acute, strongly keeled, rough-serrulate on the keel; the lower rather smaller, the upper a little exceeding the flower, which is manifestly stalked, smooth and naked; flowering glume much like the lower, longer than the palet, usually short awned or mucronate on the back below the pointless apex.

Stamen one, opposite the 1-nerved palet! Grain linear-oblong, free.--A perennial, rather sweet-scented gra.s.s, with simple and upright somewhat reed-like culms (2--7 high), bearing an ample compound terminal panicle, its branches in fours or fives; the broadly linear-lanceolate flat leaves (4--6" wide) with conspicuous ligules. Spikelets green, often purplish-tinged. (From ????a, a name in Dioscorides for a kind of gra.s.s.)

1. C. arundinacea, L. (Pl. 8, fig. 1, 2.) Panicle 6--15' long, rather dense, the branches and pedicels spreading in flower, afterward erect; spikelets 2--3" long.; awn of the glume either obsolete or manifest.--Moist woods and shaded swamps; rather common. July, Aug.

2. C. pendula, Trin. Panicle loose and more slender, the branches nearly capillary and drooping in flower; pedicels very rough; glumes thinner, the lower less unequal; spikelets 1--2" long; palet obtuse. (C.

arundinacea, var. pendula, _Gray_.)--Deep damp woods, N. New Eng. to Lake Superior and northward, and on mountains southward. (Eu.)

32. APeRA, Adans.

With the characters of Agrostis; distinguished by the presence of a second rudimentary flower in the form of a short bristle, and by the 2-toothed palet little shorter than the flowering bifid glume, which is dorsally awned.--A rather late annual, with narrow flat leaves, and a contracted or spreading panicle with numerous filiform branches and very numerous small s.h.i.+ning spikelets. (Name from ?p????, _unmaimed_; application obscure.)

A. SPCA-VeNTI, Beauv. Spikelets --1" long.--Sparingly naturalized.

(Nat. from Eu.)

33. CALAMAGRoSTIS, Adans. REED BENT-G. (Pl. 8.)

Spikelets 1-flowered, and (in our species) often with a pedicel or rudiment of a second abortive flower (rarely 2-flowered), in an open or spiked panicle. Lower glumes mostly membranaceous, keeled or boat-shaped, often acute, commonly nearly equal, and exceeding the flower, which bears at the base copious white bristly hairs; flowering glume thin, bearing a slender awn on the back or below the tip, or sometimes awnless; the palet mostly shorter. Stamens 3. Grain free.--Perennials, with running rootstocks, and mostly tall and simple rigid culms. (Name compounded of ???a??, _a reed_, and ????st??, _a gra.s.s_.)

-- 1. DEYEuXIA. _Rudiment of a second flower present in the form of a plumose or hairy small pedicel behind the palet (very rarely more developed and having a glume or even stamens); glumes membranaceous, or the flowering one thin and delicate, the latter 3--5-nerved and awn-bearing._

[*] _Panicle loose and open, even after flowering; the mostly purple-tinged or lead-colored strigose-scabrous glumes not closing in fruit; copious hairs of the rhachis about equalling the flowering glume, not surpa.s.sed by those of the rudiment; awn delicate, straight._

1. C. Canadensis, Beauv. (BLUE-JOINT GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 8, fig. 1, 2.) Culm tall (3--5 high); leaves flat when fresh, glaucous; panicle oblong; _glumes ovate-lanceolate_, acute, 1--1" long; _awn_ from near the middle of the upper glume, not exceeding and _scarcely stouter than the basal hairs_. (Deyeuxia Canadensis, _Hook. f._)--Wet grounds; common northward. July.

2. C. Langsdorffii, Trin. Spikelets larger, 2--3" long; _glumes lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate and gradually taper-pointed_; awn stouter; otherwise like the preceding, (Deyeuxia Langsdorffii, _Kunth._)--Mountains of N. New Eng., L. Superior, and northward. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Panicle strict, its short branches appressed or erect after flowering, and the glumes mostly closed; flowering glume less delicate, roughish, sometimes of as firm texture as the lower; awn stouter._

[+] _Leaves narrow, inclined to be involute; awn straight._

3. C. stricta, Trin. Panicle glomerate and lobed, strict, 2--4' long; glumes 1--2" long, ovate-oblong, not ac.u.minate; hairs scarcely or little shorter than the flower, and as long as those of the rudiment; awn from the middle of the thin flowering glume or lower, and barely exceeding it. (Deyeuxia neglecta, _Kunth_?)--Mountains of N. New Eng., Lake Superior, and north and westward. (Eu.)

4. C. Lapponica, Trin. Culm and rootstocks stouter than in C. stricta; the narrow panicle less dense, and purplish spikelets larger; glumes fully 2" long, tapering to a point; awn from much below the middle of the glume, stout. (Deyeuxia Lapponica, _Kunth._)--Isle Royale, Lake Superior, to Lab., north and westward. Aug. (Eu.)

[+][+] _Leaves broader, flat; awn stouter, bent, divergent, or twisted when dry._

5. C. confnis, Nutt. Tall; _panicle_ elongated (4--6'), its rather slender branches _spreading at flowering-time_, afterward appressed; glumes lance-oblong, very acute, 2" long, pale; _hairs of the flower copious, equal_, slightly or one third shorter than the thin flowering glume and than those of the rudiment; awn borne much below the middle of the glume, somewhat surpa.s.sing it; grain glabrous. (Deyeuxia confinis, _Kunth._)--Swamps, N. and W. New York (especially Penn Yan, _Sartwell_) and Penn.; Minn., and westward. July.

6. C. Nuttalliana, Steud. Culm stout (3--5 high); _panicle contracted and spike-like_; glumes lanceolate and tapering into slender awl-shaped tips, 3" long; _hairs on the lower side scanty and barely half the length of the firm and keeled flowering glume_, on the other side longer and equalling the copious tuft on the summit of the rudiment; awn borne half-way between the middle and the tapering tip of the glume, stout, not twisted; grain bearded at the top. (Deyeuxia Nuttalliana, _Vasey._)--Moist grounds, E. New Eng. to Penn., Va., and southward. Aug.

7. C. Porteri, Gray. Culm slender (2--4 high); a woolly-bearded ring at the junction of the broadly linear leaves with the sheath; _panicle long and narrow_, with the branches appressed; glumes lanceolate, acute, pale, 2--2" long; _hairs of the flower and of the short rudiment scanty_, and both reaching about to the middle of the flower behind the palet, but _very short or none at the base of the firm-membranaceous flowering glume_, which bears near its base _a twisted awn_ of its own length. (Deyeuxia Porteri, _Vasey_.)--Dry woods, Pulpit Rocks and vicinity, Huntingdon Co., Penn., _Prof. T. C. Porter_.