1. G. melicoídeum, 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. màjus, Gray, is a luxuriant form, 2–3° high, with ampler panicle; borders of a swamp, Macomb Co., Mich. Aug.
66. SCOLÓCHLOA, 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 σκῶλος, a prickle, and χλόα, grass.)
1. S. festucàcea, 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. GLYCÈRIA, R. Br. Manna-Grass. ([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. Squamulæ 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 grasses, mostly with creeping bases or rootstocks; spikelets panicled. (Name from γλυκερός, 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. Canadénsis, Trin. (Rattlesnake-Grass.) 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.