The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 208

long); spikelets drooping on capillary peduncles, closely 7--12-flowered, densely silky all over; awn only one third the length of the lance-oblong flower; flowering glume 7--9-nerved, much longer and larger than the palet.--Dry ground, N. Eng. to Penn., Mo., Minn., and northward. June, July.

[*][*] _Annuals or biennials, introduced into grain-fields, or rarely in waste grounds._

B. SECaLINUS, L. (CHEAT or CHESS.) (Pl. 10, fig. 1, 2.) _Panicle spreading, even in fruit_, the drooping peduncles little branched; _spikelets oblong-ovate, turgid, smooth_, of 8--10 rather distant flowers; glume rather longer than the palet, short-awned or awnless; sheaths nearly glabrous.--Too common in wheat-fields. June, July. (Adv.

from Eu.)

B. MoLLIS, L. (SOFT CHESS.) _Whole plant downy; panicle more erect, contracted in fruit; spikelets conical-ovate_, somewhat flattened; flowers closely imbricated; _glume acute_, equalling the awn.--Wheat-fields, N. Y. to Va.; scarce. June. (Adv. from Eu.)

B. RACEMSUS, L. (UPRIGHT CHESS.) Very similar to the last, but nearly glabrous or the sheaths sometimes hairy; glumes glabrous and s.h.i.+ning.

(Adv. from Eu.)

-- 2. _Flowering glume somewhat convex, but keeled and laterally more or less compressed, at least above; flowers soon separating from each other; lower empty glume 1-nerved, the upper 3-nerved, or with an obscure additional pair._

[*] _Perennial, tall (3--5 high); flowers oblong or lanceolate._

2. B. ciliatus, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches at length divergent, drooping; spikelets 7--12-flowered; flowering glume tipped with an awn -- its length, silky with appressed hairs near the margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish on the back;--or, in var. PuRGANS, Gray, clothed all over with short and fine appressed hairs.--River-banks and moist woodlands; common. July, Aug.--Culm and large leaves (3--6" wide) smooth or somewhat hairy; the sheaths in the larger forms often hairy or densely downy near the top.

Variable, comprising several forms.

B. aSPER, L. Culm slender and panicle smaller; spikelets 5--9-flowered; glume linear-lanceolate, scarcely keeled, hairy near the margins, rather longer than the awn; sheaths and lower leaves hairy or downy.--N.

Brunswick to Mich. and Ky. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Annual or biennial; flowers slender; palet pectinate-ciliate on the nerves._

B. STeRILIS, L. Culm glabrous; leaves rather downy; panicle open; spikelets on elongated nearly straight simple peduncles, of 5--9 rather distant 7-nerved roughish linear-awl-shaped long-awned flowers (awn 1'

long).--Waste places and river-banks, E. Ma.s.s. to Penn.; rare. June.

(Nat. from Eu.)

B. TECTRUM, L. Leaves short; panicle lax, somewhat 1-sided, the more numerous p.u.b.escent spikelets on very slender curving pedicels.--More common, N. Eng. to Penn. and N. Y. (Adv. from Eu.)

71. LLIUM, L. DARNEL. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets many-flowered, solitary on each joint of the continuous rhachis, placed edgewise; empty glumes, except in the terminal spikelet, only one (the upper) and external. Otherwise nearly as in Agropyrum.

(Ancient Latin name.)

L. PEReNNE, L. (COMMON DARNEL, RAY- or RYE-GRa.s.s.) Root perennial; _glume shorter than the spikelet; flowers 8--15_, awnless or sometimes short-awned.--Fields and lots; eastward. June. (Nat. from Eu.)

L. TEMULeNTUM, L. (BEARDED DARNEL.) Root annual; culm taller; _outer glume fully equalling the_ 5--7-flowered _spikelet; awn longer than the flower_ (' long).--Grain-fields; rare. (Adv. from Eu.)

72. AGROP?RUM, Gaertn. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 3--many-flowered, compressed, 2-ranked, alternate on opposite sides of a solitary terminal spike, single at each joint (the lowermost, or all, rarely in pairs) and sessile with the side against the axis.

Glumes transverse (i.e. right and left), nearly equal and opposite, lanceolate, herbaceous, nerved. Flowering glumes rigid, convex on the back, 5--7-nerved, pointed or awned from the tip; palet flattened, bristly-ciliate on the nerves, adherent to the groove of the grain.

Stamens 3.--Our species rather coa.r.s.e perennials, of difficult definition. (Name from ????? _a field_, and p????, _wheat_.)

[*] _Multiplying by long running rootstocks; awn shorter than the flower or none._

1. A. repens, Beauv. (COUCH-, QUITCH-, or QUICK-GRa.s.s.) _Spikelets 4--8-flowered, glabrous_ or nearly so; glumes 3--7-nerved; rhachis glabrous, but rough on the edges; awns when present straight; leaves flat and often roughish or p.u.b.escent above. (Tritic.u.m repens, _L._)--Nat. from Europe in cultivated grounds, fields, etc., and very troublesome; indigenous in some of its forms northwestward and on the coast.--Varies greatly. The ordinary form has a narrow spike, with 3--5-flowered spikelets, the glumes merely acute and rigid-cuspidate, or ac.u.minate, or short-awned. A tall form, rather bright green, bears awns nearly as long as the glumes. Other forms abound, especially on or near the coast. A maritime variety, much resembling var. glauc.u.m, _Boiss._ (A. glauc.u.m, _R. & S._), with large crowded 5--10-flowered spikelets and glumes very blunt or mucronate, glaucous and the leaves rather rigid and pungent, occurs on the coast of Maine (Cape Elizabeth, _Tuckerman_). In the more usual form of this variety, with the large spikes often elongated (3--9') and the leaves less rigid, the glumes are ac.u.minate or rarely short-awned. The rhachis or the whole inflorescence and the lower sheaths are sometimes very p.u.b.escent. The glabrous state, or a very similar glabrous variety, is also abundant in the western region, from Kan. and Neb. to Dak., and westward, where it is known as _Blue-joint_ or _Blue-stem_. (Eu.)

2. A. dasystachyum, Vasey. Resembling the last; glaucous; leaves narrow and often involute; the 5--9-flowered _spikelets densely downy-hairy_ all over; glumes thinner with scarious margins, mostly long-ac.u.minate.

(Tritic.u.m dasystachyum, _Gray_.)--Sandy sh.o.r.es of Lake Huron and Superior, and northward. Aug.

[*][*] _No obvious running rootstocks, glabrous, or the flat and roughish leaves sometimes hairy above; glumes as well as flowers mostly awned or awn-pointed._

3. A. violaceum, Lange. _Spike short, dense, strict and rigid_, usually tinged with violet or purple; spikelets 3--5-flowered; _glumes_ conspicuously 5-nerved, _rather abruptly narrowed into a cusp or short awn_. (Tritic.u.m violaceum, _Hornem._)--Alpine region of the White Mts., L. Superior, north and westward. (Eu.)--Pa.s.sing into a variety with longer usually pale narrow spikes and attenuate often long-awned glumes, which sometimes approaches A. caninum. N. Brunswick, White Mts., N. H., Penn. (_Porter_), L. Superior, and westward.

4. A. cannum, R. & S. (AWNED WHEAT-GRa.s.s.) _Spike usually more or less nodding_, at least in fruit, rather dense (3--6' long); spikelets 3--5-flowered; _glumes 3--5-nerved; awns straight or somewhat bent or spreading, fully twice the length of the palet_. (Tritic.u.m caninum, _L._)--Sparingly naturalized in cultivated ground and meadows.

Indigenous along our northern borders, and westward. (Eu.)

5. A. tenerum, Vasey. Culms 1--3 high; leaves narrow; spike very narrow, 2--7' long; spikelets 3--5-flowered; glumes short-ac.u.minate.--Minn. to Kan., and very common westward.

73. LEPTuRUS, R. Br.

Spikelets 1--2-flowered, solitary and alternate upon the opposite sides of a narrow spike, sessile and appressed in the concave joints. Empty glumes transverse, narrow, rigid, 5-nerved, the flowering much shorter, thin and hyaline.--Low annuals, branching at the base, with narrow leaves and rigid often curved spikes. (Name from ?ept??, _narrow_, and ????, _tail_, or spike.)

L. INCURVaTUS, Trin. Much branched, dec.u.mbent, 6' high or less; spikes terminal and lateral, 1--4' long, the base included in the broad sheath.--Borders of brackish marshes, Md. to S. Va., and on ballast northward. (Nat. from Eu.)

74. HoRDEUM, Tourn. BARLEY. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 1-flowered, with an awl-shaped rudiment on the inner side, three at each joint of the rhachis of a terminal spike, but the lateral ones usually imperfect or abortive, and short-stalked. Empty glumes side by side in front of the spikelets, 6 in number, forming a kind of involucre, slender and awn-pointed or bristle-form. Flowering glume and palet herbaceous, the former (anterior) convex, long-awned from the apex. Stamens 3. Grain oblong, commonly adherent.--Spike often separating into joints. Ours annuals or biennials, or scarcely perennial. (The ancient Latin name.)

1. H. jubatum, L. (SQUIRREL-TAIL GRa.s.s.) (Pl. 11, fig. 1, 2.) Low; lateral flowers abortive, on a short pedicel, short-awned; the perfect flower bearing a capillary awn (2' long) about equalling the similar capillary glumes, all spreading.--Sandy sea-sh.o.r.e, upper Great Lakes, and westward. June.

2. H. pratense, Huds. Low (6--18' high); lateral flowers imperfect or neutral, awnless or merely pointed; perfect flower with awn as long as those of the glumes (3--6"); spike linear, 1--2' long.--Plains, especially in saline soil, Ohio to Ill. and westward; also sparingly introduced, Va., and southward along the coast. May, June. (Eu.)

75. eLYMUS, L. LYME-GRa.s.s. WILD RYE. (Pl. 11.)

Spikelets 2--4 at each joint of the rhachis of a terminal spike, all fertile and alike, sessile, each 1--7-flowered. Glumes conspicuous, nearly side by side in front of the spikelets, 2 for each spikelet, forming an involucre to the cl.u.s.ter. Flower coriaceous; the glume rounded on the back, acute or awned at the apex. Grain adherent to the involving glume (whence the name, an ancient one for some grain, from ????, _to roll up_).

[*] _Glumes and flowers firm or rigid, all or only the latter awned; spikelets 1--5-flowered; slender perennials, with rather harsh and broad flat leaves._

[+] _Spike large and stout._

1. E. Virginicus, L. (Pl. 11, fig. 1--3.) Culm stout, 2--3 high; _spike rigidly upright, dense_ (2--3' long, 6" thick), the short _peduncle usually included in the sheath_; spikelets 2--3 together, 2--3-flowered, smooth, rather short-awned, about the length of the thickened strongly-nerved and bristle-pointed _lanceolate glumes_.--River-banks; common. Aug.

2. E. Canadensis, L. _Spike soon nodding_ (5--9' long), on an exserted peduncle; spikelets mostly in pairs, of 3--5 long-awned rough or rough-hairy flowers; the _awl-shaped glumes tipped with shorter awns_.--Var. GLAUCIFLIUS, Gray, is pale or glaucous throughout, the flowers with more spreading awns (1' long).--Var. INTERMeDIUS, Vasey, has the awns scarcely longer than the glumes.--River-banks; common.

[+][+] _Spike and culm more slender._

3. E. striatus, Willd. More or less _p.u.b.escent; spike dense and thickish_ (2--4' long), upright or slightly nodding; spikelets mostly in pairs, 1--2- (or rarely 3-) flowered, minutely bristly-hairy; _glumes awl-shaped, bristle-awned_, 1--3-nerved, _about thrice the length of the flowers_, which are only 3" long exclusive of the capillary awn (1'

long).--Var. VILLSUS, Gray, has very hairy flowers and glumes, and villous sheaths.--Rocky woods and banks. July, Aug.

4. E. Sibiricus, L., var. America.n.u.s. _Glabrous; spike wand-like_ (2--6'

long, 2--3" thick), often somewhat nodding; spikelets in pairs, 3--6-flowered; _glumes linear-lanceolate_, 3--5-nerved, ac.u.minate and smooth or often scabrous on the nerves, _short-awned, shorter than the flowers_, which bear an erect awn of once or twice their length.--Marquette, Mich. (_Porter_), N. Minn., and westward.