The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 204

C. DaCTYLON, Pers. Spikes 3--5; flowering glume smooth, longer than the blunt rudiment.--Penn., and southward, where it is cultivated for pasturage. (Nat. from Eu.)

43. CTeNIUM, Panzer. TOOTHACHE-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets densely imbricated in two rows on one side of the flat curved rhachis of the solitary terminal spike. Glumes persistent; the lower (interior) much smaller; the other concave below, bearing a stout recurved awn, like a horn, on the middle of the back. Flowers 4--6, all but one neutral; the one or two lower consisting of empty awned glumes, and the one or two uppermost of empty awnless glumes; the perfect flower intermediate, its glume membranaceous, awned or mucronate below the apex and densely ciliate toward the base, 3-nerved. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. (Name ?te????, _a small comb_, from the pectinate appearance of the spike.)

1. C. Americanum, Spreng. Culm (3--4 high from a perennial root) simple, p.u.b.escent or roughish; larger glume warty-glandular outside, conspicuously awned.--Wet pine-barrens, S. Va. and southward.--Taste very pungent.

44. GYMNOPGON, Beauv. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets of one perfect flower, and the rudiment of a second (consisting of an awn-like pedicel mostly bearing a naked bristle), sessile and remotely alternate on long filiform rays or spikes, which form a crowded naked raceme. Glumes lance-awl-shaped, keeled, almost equal, rather longer than the membranaceous flowering glume, which is cylindrical-involute, with the midrib produced from just below the 2-cleft apex into a straight and slender bristle-like awn; palet nearly as long, with the abortive rudiment at its base. Stamens 3. Stigmas pencil-form, purple.--Root perennial. Leaves short and flat, thickish, 1--3' long. (Name composed of ?????, _naked_, and p????, a _beard_, alluding to the reduction of the abortive flower to a bare awn.)

1. G. racemsus, Beauv. (Pl. 9, fig. 1, 2.) Culms cl.u.s.tered from a short rootstock (1 high), wiry, leafy; leaves oblong-lanceolate; _spikes flower-bearing to the base_ (5--8' long), soon divergent; awn of the abortive flower shorter than its stalk, equalling the _pointed glumes_, not more than half the length of the awn of the fertile flower.--Sandy pine-barrens, N. J. to Va., and southward. Aug., Sept.

2. G. breviflius, Trin. Filiform _spikes long-peduncled, i.e.

flower-bearing_ only above the middle; flowering glume ciliate near the base, short-awned; _awn of the abortive flower obsolete or minute; glumes acute_.--Suss.e.x Co., Del., and southward.

45. SCHEDONNaRDUS, Steud. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets small, ac.u.minate, 1-flowered, appressed-sessile and scattered along one side of the slender rhachis of the distant sessile and divaricately spreading spikes. Empty glumes persistent, narrow, ac.u.minate, more or less unequal, the longer usually a little shorter than the rather rigid ac.u.minate flowering one. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain linear.--A low slender annual, branching from the base, with short narrow leaves. (Name from s?ed??, _near_, and _Nardus_, from its resemblance to that genus.)

1. S. Texa.n.u.s, Steud. Stem (6--20' long) naked and curved above, bearing 3--9 racemosely disposed thread-like and triangular spikes 1--3' long; spikelets 1" long. (Lepturus paniculatus, _Nutt._)--Open grounds and salt-licks, Ill. to Mont., Col., and Tex. Aug.

46. BOUTELOuA, Lagasca. MUSKiT-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets crowded and closely sessile in 2 rows on one side of a flattened rhachis, comprising one perfect flower below and one or more sterile (mostly neutral) or rudimentary flowers. Glumes convex-keeled, the lower one shorter. Perfect flower with the 3-nerved glume 3-toothed or cleft at the apex, the 2-nerved palet 2-toothed; the teeth, at least of the former, pointed or subulate-awned. Stamens 3; anthers orange-colored or red.--Rudimentary flowers mostly 1--3-awned. Spikes solitary, racemed or spiked; the rhachis somewhat extended beyond the spikelets. (Named for _Claudius Boutelou_, a Spanish writer upon floriculture and agriculture.)

-- 1. CHONDRSIUM. _Spikes pectinate, of very many spikelets, oblong or linear, very dense, solitary and terminal or few in a raceme; sterile flowers 1--3 on a short pedicel, neutral, consisting of 1--3 scales and awns._

1. B. oligostachya, Torr. Glabrous, perennial (6--12' high); _leaves very narrow_; spikes 1--5, the rhachis glabrous; _glumes all sparingly soft-hairy_, the lobes awl-pointed; _sterile flower copiously villous-tufted_ at the summit of the naked pedicel, its 3 awns equalling the larger glume.--N. W. Wisc. to Dak., and south to Tex. and Mex.--Glumes obscurely if at all papillose along the keel, the middle lobe of the flowering one 2-cleft at the tip. Sterile flowers often 2, the second mostly a large awnless scale, becoming hood-like and coriaceous.

2. _B. hirsuta_, Lag. Tufted (8--20' high), perennial; _leaves flat, lance-linear_, papillose-hairy or glabrous; spikes 1--4; _upper empty glume hispid_ with strong bristles _from dark warty glands; flowering glume p.u.b.escent_, 3-cleft into awl-pointed lobes; _sterile flower and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns longer than the glumes_ and fertile flower.--Sandy plains, Ill., Wisc., Minn., and southwestward to Mex.

-- 2. ATHEROPGON. _Spikes short, numerous in a long and virgate one-sided spike or raceme, spreading or reflexed, each of few (4--12) spikelets; sterile flowers neutral, rudimentary._

3. B. racemsa, Lag. (Pl. 9, fig. 1, 2.) Culms tufted from perennial rootstocks (1--3 high); sheaths often hairy; leaves narrow; spikes '

or less in length, nearly sessile, 20--60 in number in a loose general spike (8--15' long); flowers scabrous; glume of the fertile with 3 short awl pointed teeth; sterile flower reduced to a single small awn, or mostly to 3 awns shorter than the fertile flower, and 1 or 2 small or minute scales. (B. curtipendula, _Gray_.)--Dry hills and plains, southern N. Y. to Minn., and south to Tex. and Mex. July--Sept.--Pa.s.ses by transitions into var. ARISTSA, with spikes shorter; sterile flower of a large saccate glume, awned at the 2-cleft tip and from the lateral nerves, the middle awn exserted, and with a rudiment of a palet.--Ill.

(_Geyer_), and southward.

47. ELEUSNE, Gaertn. CRAB-GRa.s.s. YARD-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets 2--6-flowered, with a terminal imperfect flower or naked rudiment, closely imbricate-spiked on one side of a flattish rhachis; the spikes digitate. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the flowers; flowering glume and palet awnless, the glume ovate, keeled, larger than the palet. Stamens 3. Pericarp (utricle) containing a loose wrinkled seed.--Low annuals, with flat leaves, and flowers much as in Poa. (Name from ??e?s??, the town where Ceres, the G.o.ddess of harvests, was worshipped.)

E. iNDICA, Gaertn. (DOG'S-TAIL or WIRE GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 9, fig. 1--6.) Culms ascending, flattened; spikes 2--5 (about 2' long, greenish); glumes pointless; terminal flower a mere rudiment.--Yards, etc., chiefly southward. (Nat. from Ind.?)

E. aeGYPTACA, Pers. (Pl. 9, fig. 1--4, as Dactyloctenium.) Culms often creeping at base; leaves ciliate at base; spikes 4--5; lower glume awned and the flowering one pointed. (Dactyloctenium aegyptiac.u.m, _Willd._)--Cultivated fields and yards, Va., Ill., and southward. (Adv.

from Afr.?)

48. LEPToCHLOA, Beauv. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets 3--many-flowered (the uppermost flower imperfect), loosely spiked on one side of a long filiform rhachis; the spikes racemed.

Glumes menbranaceous, keeled, rarely awned, nearly equal; flowering glume 3-nerved, sometimes simply awned, larger than the palet. Stamens 2 or 3. Seed closely enclosed.--Ours annuals. Leaves flat. (Name composed of ?ept??, _slender_, and ???a, _gra.s.s_, from the long attenuated spikes.)

1. L. mucronata, Kunth. Sheaths hairy; spikes numerous (20--40, 2--4' in length), in a long panicle-like raceme; spikelets small; glumes more or less mucronate, nearly equalling or exceeding the 3--4 awnless flowers.--Fields, Va. to Ill., Mo., and southward. Aug.

49. BuCHLOe, Engelm. BUFFALO GRa.s.s. (Pl. 16.)

Spikelets dicious (rarely moncious), very unlike; the staminate 2--3-flowered, sessile in 2 rows in short 1-sided spikes, the empty glumes blunt, 1-nerved, very unequal, the flowering larger, 3-nerved, a little exceeding the 2-nerved palet; fertile spikelets 1-flowered, in a contracted, capitate, 1-sided spike, the large outer glumes indurated, 3-fid at the apex, united at base and resembling an involucre, the inner (lower) much smaller and membranaceous, or in the lowest spikelet resembling the outer; flowering glume narrow, hyaline, bifid or nearly entire, enclosing the 2-nerved palet. Styles distinct. Grain ovate, free.--A perennial, creeping or stoloniferous, with narrow flat leaves; staminate spikes (2--3) in a pedunculate spike, the pistillate pair sessile in the broad sheaths of the upper leaves. (Name a contraction of _Bubalochloe_, from ??a???, _buffalo_, and ????, _gra.s.s_.)

1. B. dactylodes, Engelm. Low (3--8' high) and broadly tufted; sterile spikes 3--6" long, the fertile heads 3" long.--Plains of the Sask. to Minn., Kan., and Tex. One of the most valuable gra.s.ses of the plains.

50. TRIDIA, R. Br. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 3--12-flowered, somewhat terete, the rhachis with bearded joints; terminal flower abortive. Empty glumes unequal; flowering glumes membranaceous or somewhat chartaceous, much larger than the 2-toothed palet, convex, 2--3-toothed or cleft at the apex, conspicuously hairy-bearded or villous on the 3 strong nerves, of which the lateral are marginal or nearly so and usually excurrent, as is the mid-nerve especially, into a short cusp or awn. Stamens 3. Stigmas dark purple, plumose. Grain oblong, nearly gibbous.--Leaves taper-pointed; sheaths bearded at the throat. Panicle simple or compound; the spikelets often racemose, purplish. (Name from t??-, _three_, and ?d???, _a tooth_, alluding to the flowering glume.)

-- 1. TRIODIA proper. _Glumes shorter than the crowded flowers, the flowering one 3-cuspidate by the projection of the nerves, and usually with intermediate membranaceous teeth; palet naked._

1. T. cuprea, Jacq. (TALL RED-TOP.) Perennial; culm upright (3--5 high), very smooth, as are the flat leaves; panicle large and compound, the rigid capillary branches spreading, naked below; spikelets very numerous, 5--7-flowered, shining, purple (4" long); the flowering glumes hairy toward the base, their points almost equal, scarcely exceeding the intermediate teeth, thus appearing 5-toothed. (Tricuspis seslerioides, _Torr._)--Dry or sandy fields, southern N. Y. to Mo., and southward. Aug.--A showy gra.s.s, with the spreading panicle sometimes 1 wide.

-- 2. TRIPLaSIS. _Glumes much shorter than the somewhat remote flowers; flowering glume and palet strongly fringe-bearded, the glume 2-cleft at the summit, its mid-nerve produced into an awn between the truncate or awn-pointed divisions._

2. T. purpurea, Hack. (SAND-GRa.s.s.) Culms many in a tuft from the same annual root, ascending (6--12' high), with numerous bearded joints; leaves involute-awl-shaped, mostly short; panicles very simple, bearing few 2--5-flowered spikelets, the terminal one usually exserted, the axillary ones included in the commonly hairy sheaths; _awn much shorter than the glume, seldom exceeding its eroded-truncate or obtuse lateral lobes_. (Tricuspis purpurea, _Gray_.)--In sand, Ma.s.s. to Va. along the coast, and southward; also L. Erie, near Buffalo, and Ill. Aug., Sept.--Plant acid to the taste.

51. DIPLaCHNE, Beauv. (Pl. 9.)

Spikelets several-flowered, narrow, erect and scattered along the slender rhachis of the long spicate spikes; flowers all perfect or the uppermost staminate. Empty glumes membranaceous, carinate, acute, unequal; flowering glume slightly longer, 1--3-nerved, 2-toothed, and mucronate or shortly awned between the teeth. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain free.--Coa.r.s.e gra.s.ses, with narrow flat leaves, and several or many slender spikes sessile upon an elongated peduncle. (Name from d?p????, _double_, and ????, in the sense of _chaff_, with reference to the 2-lobed glume.)

1. D. fascicularis, Beauv. Smooth; leaves longer than the geniculate-dec.u.mbent and branching culms, the upper sheathing the base of the panicle-like spike, which is composed of many strict spikes (3--5' long); spikelets slightly pedicelled, 7--11-flowered, much longer than the lanceolate glumes; flowers hairy-margined toward the base, the glume with 2 small lateral teeth and a short awn in the cleft of the apex. (Leptochloa fascicularis, _Gray_.)--Brackish meadows, from R. I.

southward along the coast, and from Ill. southward on the Mississippi.

Aug.--Sept.

52. PHRAGMTES, Trin. REED. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 3--7-flowered; the flowers rather distant, silky-villous at base, and with a conspicuous silky-bearded rhachis, all perfect and 3-androus, except the lowest, which is either neutral or with 1--3 stamens, and naked. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the flowers, lanceolate, keeled, sharp-pointed, very unequal; flowering glume and palet membranaceous, slender, the glume narrowly awl-shaped, thrice the length of the palet. Squamulae 2, large. Styles long. Grain free.--Tall and stout perennials, with long running root-stocks, numerous broad leaves, and a large terminal panicle. (F?a??te?, _growing in hedges_, which this aquatic gra.s.s does not.)

1. P. communis, Trin. Panicle loose, nodding; spikelets 3--5-flowered; flowers equalling the beard.--Edges of ponds. Sept.--Looks like Broom-Corn at a distance, 5--12 high; leaves 2' wide. (Eu.)

53. ARuNDO, L.