2. U. latifòlia, 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. grácilis, 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. DISTÍCHLIS, Raf. Spike-Grass. ([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 diœcious, rather large. Leaves crowded, involute, usually rigid. (Name from δίστιχος, two-ranked.)
1. D. marítima, 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 shores. 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. strícta, Thurb., with setaceously convolute leaves, the many- (10–20-) flowered spikelets in a loose panicle.
62. DÁCTYLIS, L. Orchard Grass. ([Pl. 10.])
Spikelets several-flowered, crowded in one-sided clusters, 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 grass with digitate spikes, from δάκτυλος, a finger.)
D. glomeràta, 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. BRÌZA, L. Quaking Grass. ([Pl. 10.])