1. B. Kálmii, Gray. (Wild Chess.) Culm slender (1½–3° high); leaves and sheaths conspicuously or sparingly hairy; panicle simple, small (3–4´ 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. secálinus, 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. móllis, 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. racemòsus, L. (Upright Chess.) Very similar to the last, but nearly glabrous or the sheaths sometimes hairy; glumes glabrous and shining. (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. ciliàtus, L. Panicle compound, very loose, the elongated branches at length divergent, drooping; spikelets 7–12-flowered; flowering glume tipped with an awn ½–¾ its length, silky with appressed hairs near the margins, at least below (or rarely naked), smooth or smoothish on the back;—or, in var. púrgans, 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. ásper, 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.