7. M. diffùsa, Schreber. (Drop-seed. Nimble Will.) (Pl. 8, fig. 3–5.) Culms diffusely much branched (8–18´ high); contracted panicles slender, rather loosely many-flowered, terminal and lateral; empty glumes extremely minute, the lower obsolete, the upper truncate; awn once or twice longer than the flowering glume.—Dry hills and woods, from S. New Eng. to Mich., Iowa, and southward. Aug., Sept.—Spikelets only 1´´ long.
§ 2. TRICHÓCHLOA. Panicle very loose and open, the long branches and pedicels capillary; leaves narrow, often convolute-bristle-form.
8. M. capillàris, Kunth. (Hair-Grass.) Culm simple, upright (2° high) from a fibrous root; panicle capillary, expanding (6–20´ long, purple); empty glumes unequal, the lower mostly pointless, the upper more or less bristle-pointed, one third or half the length of the long-awned flowering glume.—Sandy soil, W. New Eng. to N. J., Ky., Mo., and southward. Sept.—Pedicels 1–2´ long, scarcely thicker than the awns, which are about 1´ long.
24. BRACHYÉLYTRUM, Beauv. ([Pl. 8.])
Spikelets 1-flowered, with a conspicuous filiform pedicel of an abortive second flower about half its length, nearly terete, few, in a simple appressed racemed panicle. Lower glumes unequal, persistent, usually minute, or the lower one almost obsolete. Flowering glume and palet chartaceo-herbaceous, involute, enclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough with scattered short bristles, the first 5-nerved, extended into a long straight awn, the palet 2-pointed; the awn-like sterile pedicel partly lodged in the groove on its back. Stamens 2; anthers and stigmas very long.—Perennial, with simple culms (1–3° high) from creeping rootstocks, downy sheaths, broad and flat lanceolate pointed leaves, and spikelets ½´ long without the awn. (Name composed of βραχύς, short, and ἔλυτρον, husk, from the minute glumes.)
1. B. aristàtum, Beauv. Rocky woods; common. June.—Var. Engelmánni, Gray, is a western form, with the second glume awn-pointed, nearly half the length of the flowering one.
25. HELEÓCHLOA, Host. ([Pl. 7.])
Spikelets 1-flowered, crowded in a dense spike or spike-like panicle. Lower glumes persistent, membranaceous, acute, ciliate-carinate, awnless; flowering glume similar, a little longer, and a little exceeding the palet. Stamens 3.—Low cespitose annuals; spike often scarcely exserted from the upper sheath. (Name from ἕλος, a meadow, and χλόα, grass.)
H. schœnoìdes, Host. Usually nearly prostrate and tufted; leaves rather rigid, tapering to a sharp point; spike oblong, thick, 7–20´´ long. (Crypsis schœnoides, Lam.)—Waste places, N. J. to Del. (Nat. from Eu.)
26. PHLÈUM, L. Cat's-tail Grass. ([Pl. 7.])