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.

(Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Low; the culms (6--20' long) geniculate-ascending from a running rootstock, rigid, very much flattened; panicle simple and contracted._

P. COMPReSSA, L. (WIRE-GRa.s.s. ENGLISH BLUE-GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 10, fig. 1--4.) Pale, as if glaucous; leaves short; panicle dense and narrow, somewhat one-sided (1--3' long), the short branches mostly in pairs; spikelets almost sessile, 3--10-flowered, flat.--Dry, mostly sterile soil, in waste places; rarely in woods. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*][*] _Low alpine or alpestrine species, erect, in perennial tufts._

[+] _Soft and flaccid, smooth or nearly so, even to the branches of the panicle; leaves short and flat, short-pointed; ligule elongated._

1. P. alpna, L. Culms rather stout (8--14' high); _leaves broadly linear_, especially those of the culm (1--2' long, 1--3" wide); _panicle short and broad_; spikelets broadly ovate, 3--9-flowered (about 3" long); flowering glume villous on the midrib and margins.--N. Maine (?), Isle Royale and north sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, and northward. (Eu.)

2. P. laxa, Haenke. Culms slender (4--9' high); _leaves narrow; panicle somewhat raceme-like, narrow_, often one-sided and nodding; spikelets 2--4-flowered, one half smaller.--Alpine mountain-tops of Maine, N. H., and N. New York, and high northward (Eu.)

[+][+] _More strict and rigid, roughish, especially the panicle; ligule short._

3. P. nemoralis, L. Culms 6--20' high; leaves narrow, short, soon involute; branches of the panicle 2--5 together, very scabrous; spikelets purplish (or sometimes pale), 2--5-flowered; lower _glumes ovate-lanceolate and taper-pointed_, the flowering lanceolate, somewhat webby at base, villous on the keel and margins below the middle, its nerves obscure. (P. caesia, _Smith._)--The more common form has a usually narrow somewhat nodding panicle, with short ascending branches, the small pale or purplish spikelets 2-flowered. Lab. to N. Maine and N.

Vt.; Lake Champlain (_Pringle_); N. sh.o.r.e of L. Superior to N. Iowa, and westward.--A form with somewhat stouter and stricter habit, the darker or often pale spikelets 3--5-flowered (P. caesia, var. strictior, _Gray_), corresponds nearly to the European P. caesia. High mountains of N. H. and Vt., and Gardner's Island, L. Champlain (_C. E. Faxon_), Isle Royale and N. sh.o.r.e of L. Superior, and westward.--Also a form with the branches of the short panicle broadly divaricate; N. Wisc. (_Lapham_).

(Eu.)

[*][*][*][*] _Taller (1--3) meadow or woodland gra.s.ses; panicle open._

[+] _Spikelets mostly very numerous and crowded on the rather short rough branches (usually in fives) of the oblong or pyramidal panicle, green, or sometimes violet-tinged; flowers acute, crowded, more or less webbed at base._

4. P. serotina, Ehrhart. (FALSE RED-TOP. FOWL MEADOW-GRa.s.s.) Culms tufted without running rootstocks; leaves narrowly linear, soft and smooth; _ligules elongated; spikelets_ 2--4- (rarely 5-) flowered (1--2" long), _all short-pedicelled_ in an elongated panicle, often tinged with dull purple; flowers and glumes narrow; _flowering glume very obscurely nerved_.--Wet meadows and low banks of streams; common, especially northward. July, Aug.--A good gra.s.s for moist meadows. (Eu.)

5. P. pratensis, L. (JUNE GRa.s.s. SPEAR GRa.s.s. KENTUCKY BLUEGRa.s.s.) Culms sending off copious _running rootstocks_ from the base, and the _sheaths smooth; ligule short and blunt_; panicle short-pyramidal; _spikelets_ 3--5-flowered, _crowded_, and mostly _almost sessile_ on the branches, ovate-lanceolate or ovate; _flowering glume 5-nerved, hairy on the margins_ as well as keel.--Common in dry soil; imported for pastures and meadows. Indigenous in mountain regions from N. Penn. to New Eng., and northward. May--July. (Eu.)

P. TRIVIaLIS, L. (ROUGHISH MEADOW-GRa.s.s.) Culms erect from a somewhat dec.u.mbent base, but no distinct running rootstocks; _sheaths and leaves more or less rough; ligule oblong, acute_; panicle longer or with the branches more distant; spikelets mostly 3-flowered, broader upward; _flowering glume prominently 5-nerved, naked at the margins_; otherwise nearly as in the preceding.--Moist meadows, etc. July. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] _Spikelets fewer and more scattered, on slender pedicels; plants soft and smooth, flowering early. (No running rootstocks, except in n. 10.)_

[++] _Spikelets small (1--2" long), pale green, rather loosely 2--4-flowered; flowers oblong, obtuse; flowering glume scarcely scarious-tipped; culm-leaves lance-linear, acute, 1--3' long._

6. P. sylvestris, Gray. _Culm flattish_, erect; branches of the oblong-pyramidal panicle short, numerous, in fives or more; _flowering glumes villous on the keel its whole length, and on the margins below the middle_, sparingly webbed at base.--Rocky woods and meadows, western N. Y. to Wisc., Kan., and southward. June.

7. P. debils, Torr. _Culms terete_, weak; branches of the small panicle few and slender (the lower l--2' long to the few spikelets), in pairs and threes; _flowers very obtuse, smooth and glabrous_, except a sparing web at base.--Rocky woodlands, R. I. to Penn. and Wisc. May.

[++][++] _Spikelets 2" long, light green; oblong-lanceolate flowers and glumes acute._

8. P. alsdes, Gray. Leaves rather narrowly linear, acute, the uppermost (2--4' long) often sheathing the base of the narrow and loose panicle, the capillary branches appressed when young, mostly in threes or fours; flowering glume very obscurely nerved, villous on the keel below, and with a narrow cobwebby tuft at base, otherwise glabrous.--Woods, on hillsides, N. Eng. to Penn. and Va., west to Wisc. May, June.

[++][++][++] _Spikelets larger (3--4" long), pale green, rarely purple-tinged, few and scattered at the ends of the long capillary branches (mostly in pairs or threes) of the very diffuse panicle; flowers 3--6, loose, oblong and obtuse, as is the larger glume; flowering glume conspicuously scarious at the apex, villous below the middle on the keel and margins; culms flattish, smooth._

9. P. flexusa, Muhl. (not of Wahl.) Culms 1--3 high, tufted, its _leaves all linear (2--5' long), gradually taper-pointed; panicle very effuse_ (its branches 2--4' long to the 4--6-flowered spikelets or first ramification); _flowering glume prominently nerved, no web_ at the base.--Dry woods, Penn. and Del. to Ky., and southward. Feb.--May.--Near the last.

10. P. breviflia, Muhl. Culms 1--1 high from _running rootstocks_, 2--3-leaved, the _upper leaves very short (--2' long), lanceolate, all abruptly cuspidate-tipped_; branches of the short panicle mostly in pairs; spikelets 3--4-flowered; _flowering glume rather obscurely nerved, cobwebby at base_.--Rocky or hilly woodlands, Penn., Va., and sparingly westward to Ky. and Ill. April, May.--Culm scarcely surpa.s.sing the long root-leaves.

65. GRAPHePHORUM, Desv. (Pl. 10.)