The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 207

Spikelets 2--4-flowered, compressed, the rhachis pilose on one side, jointed, produced above the flowers into a hairy pedicel. Empty glumes thin-membranaceous, acute, carinate, mostly nearly equalling the remote flowers; flowering glume thin and membranaceous or scarious, convex, scarcely keeled, faintly nerved, entire, pointless and awnless. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. Ovary glabrous.--Perennial, with linear flat leaves, their sheaths closed at base, the spikelets in a loose panicle. (Named from ??af??, _a pencil_, and f???, _to bear_, from the terminal hairy pedicel.)

1. G. melicoideum, Desv. Culm 1--2 high; leaves roughish; panicle open; glumes unequal, lanceolate, their midrib and the pedicels rough.--N.

Maine, N. Vt., Upper Mich., and northward; rare.--Var. MaJUS, Gray, is a luxuriant form, 2--3 high, with ampler panicle; borders of a swamp, Macomb Co., Mich. Aug.

66. SCOLoCHLOA, Link.

Spikelets 2--4-flowered, subterete. Rhachis hairy at the base of the flowers, ending in a naked pedicel. Empty glumes concave, membranaceous, unequal, the outer 3-nerved, acute, the inner 5-nerved, toothed at the apex, nearly equalling the flowers; flowering glume more rigid, prominently 7-nerved, toothed at the apex; nerves all parallel. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. Ovary hairy.--Tall perennials, growing in water, with loosely sheathing leaves, and spikelets in a lax panicle. (Name probably from s?????, _a p.r.i.c.kle_, and ???a, _gra.s.s_.)

1. S. festucacea, Link. Stout, 3--4 high, smooth; leaves rough on the margins; panicle suberect; spikelets 3--4" long. (Festuca borealis, _Hook_.)--Emmet Co., Iowa (_Cratty_), and northward.

67. GLYCeRIA, R. Br. MANNA-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets terete or flattish, several--many-flowered; the flowers mostly early deciduous by the breaking up of the rhachis into joints, leaving the short and unequal 1--3-nerved membranaceous lower glumes behind.

Flowering glume and palet naked, of a rather firm texture, nearly equal; the glume rounded on the back, scarious (and sometimes obscurely toothed) at the blunt or rarely acute summit, glabrous, prominently 5--7-nerved, the nerves parallel and separate. Squamulae fleshy and truncate, or none. Stamens commonly 2. Styles present; stigmas compoundly plumose. Ovary smooth. Grain oblong, free, the furrow very narrow or none.--Perennial smooth marsh gra.s.ses, mostly with creeping bases or rootstocks; spikelets panicled. (Name from ????e???, _sweet_, in allusion to the taste of the grain.)

[*] _Spikelets ovate, oblong, or linear-oblong, 1--3" in length_,

[+] _At length nodding in an open panicle, flattish laterally but turgid._

1. G. Canadensis, Trin. (RATTLESNAKE-GRa.s.s.) Culm stout, 2--3 high; leaves long, roughish; panicle oblong-pyramidal, at length drooping; spikelets ovate, at length very broad and tumid, Briza-like, 2" long, pale, with purplish glumes; flowering glume acute or blunt-pointed, firm, with not very prominent nerves, longer than the rounded palet.--Bogs and wet places; common from Penn. to E. Kan., and northward. July.

[+][+] _Erect in a narrow contracted panicle, somewhat flattened and turgid._

2. G. obtusa, Trin. Culm stout, 1--2 high, very leafy; leaves long, smooth; _panicle narrowly oblong, dense_ (3--5' long); spikelets 3--7-flowered, 2--3" long; flowering glume obtuse.--Bogs, E. New Eng.

to Penn. and southward, near the coast.

3. G. elongata, Trin. Leaves very long (1 or more), rough; _panicle narrowly racemose, elongated_ (1 long), _recurving_; the branches and 3--4-flowered spikelets _appressed_; flowering glume obtuse.--Wet woods, N. Eng. to Mich., Minn., and northward; Roan Mt., N. C. (_Scribner_).

July--Aug.

[+][+][+] _Diffuse; flower-glume truncate-obtuse, strongly 7-nerved; palet 2-toothed._

4. G. nervata, Trin. (FOWL MEADOW-GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 10, fig. 1--3.) Culm erect, 1--3 high; leaves rather long; branches of the loose _panicle_ capillary, _at length drooping, the numerous small spikelets_ (1--2"

long, commonly purplish) _ovate-oblong_, 3--7-flowered.--Moist meadows; common. June.

5. G. pallida, Trin. Culms slender, 1--3 long, ascending from a creeping base; leaves short, sharp-pointed, pale; _branches of the rather simple panicle slender, erect-spreading_, rough; the _spikelets usually few, somewhat appressed, oblong-linear_, 5--9-flowered (pale, 2--3" long); _flowering glume minutely 5-toothed_; the palet lanceolate, conspicuously 2-toothed.--Shallow water; Maine to Va., west to Ky., Ind., and Mich.; common, especially northward. July.

6. G. grandis, Watson. (REED MEADOW-GRa.s.s.) Culm stout, upright, 3--5 high; leaves large (1--2 long, {1/3}--' wide); _panicle much branched, ample_ (8--15' long), _the numerous branches ascending, spreading with age; spikelets oblong or linear-oblong_, 3--6-flowered (usually purplish, 2--3" long); _flowering glume entire_. (G. aquatica of Amer.

authors.)--Wet grounds; N. Eng. to western N. Y., Mich., Minn., and westward.

[*][*] _Spikelets linear (--1' long), pale, appressed on the branches of the long narrow racemose panicle, terete except during anthesis; palets minutely roughish, the upper 2-toothed; squamulae unilateral or united; ligule long; culm flattened (1--5 high), ascending from a rooting base._ (Glyceria, _R. Br._)

7. G. fluitans, R. Br. Panicle 1 long; the simple branches appressed, finally spreading below; leaves short and rather broad, very smooth; spikelets 7--13-flowered; _flowering glume oblong, obtuse_, or the scarious tip acutish, entire or obscurely 3-lobed, usually rather longer than the blunt palet.--Shallow water; common. June--Aug.

8. G. acutiflra, Torr. Spikelets 5--12-flowered, few and scattered; _flowering glume oblong-lanceolate, acute, shorter than the long tapering point of the palet_.--Wet places, Penn. to Maine; rather rare.

June.--Resembles the last; but the erect leaves smaller, the separate flowers twice the length (4" long), and less nerved.

68. PUCCINeLLIA, Parl. (Pl. 16.)

Characters as in Glyceria, but the flowering glumes inconspicuously or obsoletely 5-nerved; squamulae thin and distinct; stigmas sessile and simply plumose; grain compressed, often broadly furrowed.--Mostly saline species; perennial. (Named for Prof. _Benedetto Puccinelli_, an Italian botanist.)

1. P. maritima, Parl. (GOOSE-GRa.s.s. SEA SPEAR-GRa.s.s.) _Root stoloniferous_; culms erect, 1--1 high; _leaves involute, acute or pungent_; lower _branches of the narrow panicle often solitary or in pairs, appressed_ or more or less spreading; spikelets 3--6" long, oblong or linear, 4--9-flowered; flowering glumes rounded at the summit, 1" long. (Glyceria maritima, _Wahl._ Atropis maritima, _Griseb._)--Marshes along the coast; not rare, and somewhat variable in the form of the panicle and size of the glumes. (Eu.)

Var. (?) mnor, Watson. Culms low and slender, from very slender creeping rootstocks; leaves very narrow and involute; ligule long; panicle short and very narrow; spikelets 2--4-flowered, the flowers 1"

long or less.--Sh.o.r.e of Mt. Desert Island (_E. L. Rand_); Labrador (_J. A. Allen_).--Probably rather a form of the western P. airoides (Poa airoides, _Nutt._).

2. P. distans, Parl. _Not stoloniferous_; culms rather stout, geniculate below; _leaves mostly flat, short_; ligule short; _lower branches of the panicle in fours or fives_, usually more or less naked at base, soon _spreading_ and at length deflexed; spikelets 2--3" long, 3--6-flowered; flowering glume truncate-obtuse, --1" long. (Glyceria distans, _Wahl._ Atropis distans, _Griseb._)--Salt marshes along the coast and on ballast; apparently much rarer than the last, and perhaps not native. (Eu.)

69. FESTuCA, L. _Fescue-gra.s.s_. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 3--many-flowered, panicled or racemose; the flowers not webby at base. Lower glumes unequal, mostly keeled. Flowering glumes chartaceous or almost coriaceous, roundish (not keeled) on the back, more or less 3--5-nerved, acute, pointed, or often bristle-awned from the tip, rarely blunt; the palet mostly adhering at maturity to the enclosed grain. Stamens 1--3.--Flowers, and often the leaves, rather dry and harsh. (An ancient Latin name of some kind of gra.s.s, of uncertain meaning.)

[*] _Flowers awl-shaped, bristle-pointed or awned from the tip; panicle contracted._

[+] _Annuals or biennials, slender, 5--18' high; leaves convolute-bristle-form._

F. MYuRUS, L. Panicle spike-like, one-sided; spikelets about 5-flowered; lower glumes very unequal; _awn much longer than the flowering glume_, fully 6" in length; stamen 1.--Dry fields, Nantucket, Ma.s.s., to Del., and southward. July. (Nat. from Eu.)

1. F. tenella, Willd. Panicle spike-like, one-sided, or more compound and open; spikelets 7--13-flowered; _awn 1--3" long or more, usually shorter than or about equalling the glume_; stamens 2.--Dry sterile soil, especially southward. June, July.

[+][+] _Perennial, tufted, 6--24' high; stamens 3._

2. F. ovna, L. (SHEEP'S FESCUE.) Glaucous, --2 high; leaves mostly radical, very narrow and convolute; panicle somewhat one-sided, short, usually more or less compound, open in flowering; spikelets 3--8-flowered; awn not more than half the length of the flower, often much shorter or almost wanting.--Indigenous in northern New Eng., about Lake Superior, and northward; naturalized farther south as a pasture gra.s.s. June.--Varies greatly.--Var. VIViPARA, L. (which with us has running rootstocks), a state with the spikelets partially converted into leafy shoots, is found on the alpine summits of the White Mts., and high northward.--Var. DURIuSCULA, Koch, is a tall form, with spikelets rather larger, usually in a more compound panicle; culm-leaves often flat or less convolute, and the lower with their sheaths either smooth or hairy.

New Eng. to Va., and westward, as a naturalized plant, and indigenous northward. A native form of this variety with a lax panicle, 2--4-flowered spikelets, and slender awns nearly as long as the glume (var. rubra, of last ed.), is found on Keweenaw Peninsula (_Robbins_) and Isle Royale, L. Superior (_Gilman_). (Eu.)

[*][*] _Flowers oblong or lanceolate, awnless or nearly so (1--4"

long); grain often free! (Root perennial; culms mostly tall; leaves flat.)_

3. F. nutans, Willd. Culm 2--4 high, naked above; leaves broadly linear, taper-pointed, dark green, often rather hairy; _panicle of several long and slender spreading branches_, mostly in pairs, _drooping_ when old, rough, naked below, bearing near their extremity a few ovate 3--5-flowered spikelets (3" long) on pretty long pedicels; _flowers ovate-oblong, rather obtuse, close together_, coriaceous, smooth, very obscurely 5-nerved.--Rocky woods and copses. July.--A common form with the panicle more or less contracted and somewhat erect has been distinguished as F. Shortii.

F. ELaTIOR, L. (TALLER or MEADOW FESCUE.) (Pl. 10, fig. 1--3.) _Panicle narrow_, contracted before and after flowering, _erect, with short branches_; spikelets crowded, 5--10-flowered; _flowers rather remote, oblong-lanceolate_; flowering glume 5-nerved, scarious-margined, blunt, acute, or rarely with a distinct but very short awn.--The type is large, 3--4 high; spikelets about 6" long, in an ample and compound panicle.

Rich gra.s.s-land.--Var. PRATeNSIS, Gray (F. pratensis, _Huds._), is lower (1--3 high), with a simpler or close panicle of smaller or narrower spikelets, and abounds in gra.s.s-lands. June--Aug. (Nat. from Eu.)

F. GIGANTeA, Vill. Erect, glabrous, 3--4 high; leaves bright green, 3--6" broad; panicle very loose, nodding; spikelets 3--6-flowered; flowering glumes 3" long, with a slender awn of twice the length.--Of rare occurrence near the coast. (Nat. from Eu.)

70. BRMUS, L. BROME-GRa.s.s. (Pl. 10.)

Spikelets 5--many-flowered, panicled. Glumes unequal, membranaceous; the lower 1--5-, the upper 3--9-nerved. Flowering glume either convex on the back or compressed-keeled, 5--9-nerved, awned or bristle-pointed from below the mostly 2-cleft tip; palet at length adhering to the groove of the oblong or linear grain. Stamens 3. Styles attached below the apex of the ovary.--Coa.r.s.e gra.s.ses, with large spikelets, at length drooping, on pedicels thickened at the apex. (An ancient name for the Oat, from ????, _food_.)

-- 1. _Flowering glume oblong, turgid, and convex on the back; the flowers imbricated over one another before expansion; lower empty glume distinctly 3--5-nerved, the upper 5--9-nerved._

[*] _Perennial; indigenous. Lower glume strongly 3-nerved, the upper 5-nerved._

1. B. Kalmii, Gray. (WILD CHESS.) Culm slender (1--3 high); leaves and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy; panicle simple, small (3--4'