at length divergent, drooping; spikelets 7--12-flowered; flowering glume
tipped with an awn 1/2--3/4 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. Mass. to Penn.; rare. June.
(Nat. from Eu.)
B. TECTORUM, L. Leaves short; panicle lax, somewhat 1-sided, the more
numerous pubescent spikelets on very slender curving pedicels.--More
common, N. Eng. to Penn. and N. Y. (Adv. from Eu.)
71. LOLIUM, 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-GRASS.) 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_ (1/2' long).--Grain-fields; rare. (Adv. from Eu.)
72. AGROPYRUM, 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 coarse perennials, of difficult
definition. (Name from [Greek: a)gro/s] _a field_, and [Greek: pyro/s],
_wheat_.)
[*] _Multiplying by long running rootstocks; awn shorter than the flower
or none._
1. A. repens, Beauv. (COUCH-, QUITCH-, or QUICK-GRASS.) _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 pubescent above. (Triticum 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
acuminate, 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. glaucum, _Boiss._
(A. glaucum, _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 acuminate or
rarely short-awned. The rhachis or the whole inflorescence and the lower
sheaths are sometimes very pubescent. 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-acuminate.
(Triticum dasystachyum, _Gray_.)--Sandy shores 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_. (Triticum violaceum, _Hornem._)--Alpine region of the White Mts.,
L. Superior, north and westward. (Eu.)--Passing 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. caninum, R. & S. (AWNED WHEAT-GRASS.) _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_. (Triticum caninum,
_L._)--Sparingly naturalized in cultivated ground and meadows.
Indigenous along our northern borders, and westward. (Eu.)
5. A. tenerum, Vasey. Culms 1--3 deg. high; leaves narrow; spike
very narrow, 2--7' long; spikelets 3--5-flowered; glumes
short-acuminate.--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 [Greek: lepto/s],
_narrow_, and [Greek: ou)ra/], _tail_, or spike.)
L. INCURVATUS, Trin. Much branched, decumbent, 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 GRASS.) (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-shore, 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-GRASS. 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 cluster. 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
[Greek: e)lyo], _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 deg. 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. GLAUCIFOLIUS, Gray, is pale or glaucous throughout, the
flowers with more spreading awns (11/2' 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 _pubescent; 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. VILLOSUS, Gray, has very hairy flowers and glumes, and
villous sheaths.--Rocky woods and banks. July, Aug.
4. E. Sibiricus, L., var. Americanus. _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, acuminate 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.
[*][*] _Glumes and palet awnless and soft in texture; reed-like
perennials_.
5. E. mollis, Trin. Culm (3 deg. high) velvety at top; spike thick, erect
(8' long); spikelets 2 or 3 at each joint, 5--8-flowered; the lanceolate
pointed 5--7-nerved glumes (1' long) and the pointed flowers
soft-villous; rhachis of the spikelets separating into joints.--Shore of
the Great Lakes, Maine, and northward. (Near E. arenarius.)
[*][*][*] _Empty glumes very narrow, and all very long-awned; spike
disarticulating at maturity._
6. E. Sitanion, Schultes. Low (1/2--2 deg. high), stout; spike 1--4' long, the
peduncle slightly exserted; the spreading scabrous awns 2--3'
long.--Central Minn. to Kan., and westward.
76. ASPRELLA, Willd. BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS. (Pl. 11.)
Spikelets 2--3 or sometimes solitary on each joint of the rhachis of a
terminal spike, raised on a very short callous pedicel, loosely
2--4-flowered (when solitary flatwise on the rhachis). Glumes none! or
small, awn-like, and deciduous. Otherwise nearly as in Elymus. (Name a
diminutive of _asper_, rough or prickly.)
1. A. Hystrix, Willd. Perennial; culms 3--4 deg. high; leaves and sheaths
smoothish; spike loose (3--6' long); the spreading spikelets 2--3
together, early deciduous; flowers smoothish or often rough-hairy,
tipped with an awn thrice their length (1' long). (Gymnostichum Hystrix,
_Schreb._)--Moist woodlands. July, Aug.
77. ARUNDINARIA, Michx. CANE. (Pl. 11.)
Spikelets flattened, 5--14-flowered; the flowers somewhat separated on
the jointed rhachis. Empty glumes very small, membranaceous, the upper
one larger. Flowering glumes and palet herbaceous or somewhat
membranaceous, the glume convex on the back, many-nerved, tapering into
a mucronate point or bristle. Squamulae 3, longer than the ovary. Stamens
3. Grain oblong, free.--Arborescent or shrubby grasses, simple or with
fascicled branches, and with large spikelets in panicles or racemes;
blade of the leaf jointed upon the sheath; flowers polygamous. (Name
from _arundo_, a reed.)
1. A. macrosperma, Michx. (LARGE CANE.) (Pl. 11, fig. 1, 2.) Culms
arborescent, 10--40 deg. high and {1/2}--3' thick at base, rigid, simple the
first year, branching the second, afterwards at indefinite periods
fruiting, and soon after decaying; leaves lanceolate (1--2' wide),
smoothish or pubescent, the sheath ciliate on one margin, stoutly
fimbriate each side of the base of the leaf; panicle lateral, composed
of few simple racemes; spikelets 1--3' long, purplish or pale, erect;
flowering glume lanceolate, acute or acuminate, glabrous or pubescent,
fringed (5--12'' long).--River-banks, S. Va.(?), Ky., and southward,
forming cane-brakes. April.
Var. suffruticosa, Munro. (SWITCH CANE. SMALL CANE.) Lower and more
slender (2--10 deg. high), often growing in water; leaves 4''--1' broad;
spikelets solitary or in a simple raceme at the summit of the branches,
or frequently on leafless radical culms. (A. tecta, _Muhl._)--Swamps and
moist soil, Md., S. Ind. to S. E. Mo., and southward. Sometimes fruiting
several years in succession.
SERIES II.
CRYPTOGAMOUS OR FLOWERLESS PLANTS.
Vegetables destitute of proper flowers (i.e. having no stamens nor
pistils), and producing instead of seeds minute one-celled germinating
bodies called _spores_, in which there is no embryo or rudimentary
plantlet.
CLASS III. ACROGENS.
Cryptogamous plants with a distinct axis or stem, growing from the apex,
and commonly not with later increase in diameter, usually furnished with
distinct leaves; reproduction by antheridia and archegonia, sometimes
also by gemmation.
SUBCLASS I. VASCULAR ACROGENS, OR PTERIDOPHYTES.[1]
[Footnote 1: The orders of this Subclass have been elaborated anew for
this edition by Prof. DANIEL C. EATON of Yale University.]
Stems containing woody fibre and vessels (especially scalariform or
spiral ducts). Antheridia or archegonia, or both, formed on a minute
prothallus which is developed from the spore on germination, the
archegonium containing a nucleus, which after fertilization becomes an
oospore and at length grows into the conspicuous spore-bearing plant.
ORDER 130. EQUISETACEAE. (HORSETAIL FAMILY.)
_Rush-like, often branching plants, with jointed and mostly hollow stems
from running rootstocks, having sheaths at the joints, and, when
fertile, terminated by the conical or spike-like fructification composed
of shield-shaped stalked scales bearing the spore-cases beneath._--A
single genus.
1. EQUISETUM, L. HORSETAIL. SCOURING RUSH. (Pl. 21)
Spore-cases (_sporangia, thecae_) 6 or 7, adhering to the under side of
the angled shield-shaped scales of the spike, 1-celled, opening down the
inner side and discharging the numerous loose spores. To the base of
each spore are attached 4 thread-like and club-shaped elastic filaments,
which roll up closely around the spore when moist, and uncoil when
dry.--Rootstocks perennial, wide-creeping, hard and blackish, jointed,
often branched and sometimes bearing small tubers. Stems erect,
cylindrical, hollow, jointed; the surface striated or grooved with
alternate ridges and furrows, the cuticle in most species containing
silica in the form of minute granules, rosettes, or tubercles; the
joints containing besides the central air-cavity a circle of smaller
hollows beneath the furrows and a set of still smaller ones beneath the
ridges; the nodes closed and solid, each bearing instead of leaves a
sheath which is divided into teeth corresponding in number and position
to the principal ridges of the stem; stomata in the furrows, each with
two pairs of guard-cells, of which the outer pair is marked with
radiating lines of silica. Branches, when present, in whorls from the
base of the sheath, like the stem, but without the central air-cavity.
Prothallus green, formed upon the ground, often variously lobed, usually
dioecious. (The ancient name, from _equus_, horse, and _seta_, bristle.)
Sec. 1. _Annual-stemmed, not surviving the winter._
[*] _Fruiting in spring from soft and rather succulent pale or brownish
fertile stems, the sterile stems or branches appearing later, herbaceous
and very different._
[+] _Fertile stems unbranched, destitute of chlorophyll and soon
perishing; the sterile branching copiously._
1. E. arvense, L. (COMMON H.) Fertile stems (4--10' high) with loose and
usually distant about 8--12-toothed sheaths; the sterile slender (at
length 1--2 deg. high), 10--14-furrowed, producing long and simple or
sparingly branched 4-angular branches, their teeth 4, herbaceous,
lanceolate.--Moist, especially gravelly soil; very common. March--May.
Rootstocks often bearing little tubers.--Var. CAMPESTRE, Milde, is a not
uncommon state, in which the sterile stem bears a small fruiting spike
at the summit. (Eu.)
[+][+] _Fertile stems when older producing herbaceous 3-sided branches,
and lasting through the summer, except the naked top which perishes
after fructification._
2. E. pratense, Ehrh. Sterile and finally also the fertile stems
producing _simple straight branches_; sheaths of the stem with
ovate-lanceolate short teeth, those of the branches 3-toothed; stems
more slender and the branches shorter than in the last.--Mich. to Minn.,
and northward. April, May. (Eu.)
3. E. sylvaticum, L. Sterile and fertile stems (about 12-furrowed)
producing _compound racemed branches_; sheaths loose, with 8--14 rather
blunt teeth, those of the branches bearing 4 or 5, of the branchlets 3,
lance-pointed divergent teeth.--Wet shady places; common northward. May.
(Eu.)
[*][*] _Fruiting in summer; stems all of one kind, or the fertile
contemporaneous with and like the sterile, equally herbaceous, producing
mostly simple branches, or sometimes nearly naked._
4. E. palustre, L. Stems (10--18' high) slender, very deeply
5--9-grooved, _the ridges narrow and acute_, roughish, the lance-awl
shaped teeth whitish-margined; branches always hollow, 4--7-angled,
rather few in a whorl.--Wet places, Niagara River (_Clinton_), Wisc.
(_Austin_), and northward. June. (Eu.)
5. E. littorale, Kuehlewein. Stems (8--18' high) slender, deeply
6--16-grooved, _the ridges rounded_, the teeth shorter than in the last,
narrowly white-margined; branches often solid, 3--4-angled, 2--6 in a
whorl.--Wet sandy shores, Vt. and N. Y., and northward.--Spores always
abortive, whence the plant has been considered a hybrid, perhaps of E.
arvense and E. limosum. July. (Eu.)
6. E. limosum, L. (Pl. 21, fig. 1--5.) Stems (2--5 deg. high) _slightly
many-furrowed_, smooth, sometimes continuing unbranched, but usually
producing ascending branches after fructification; sheaths appressed,
with 10--22 (commonly about 18) dark-brown and acute rigid short
teeth.--In shallow water; rather common.--Air-cavities none under the
grooves, but small ones under the ridges. A form in which the branches
bear numerous small spikes is var. POLYSTACHYUM, Brueckner. June, July.
(Eu.)
Sec. 2. _Stems all alike, evergreen, unbranched, or producing a few slender
erect branches; fruiting in summer. Central air-cavity of the stem very
large._
[*] _Stems tall and stout (1{1/2}--4 deg. or even 6 deg. high), simple, or
casually branched, evenly many-grooved; sheaths appressed._
7. E. hyemale, L. (SCOURING-RUSH. SHAVE-GRASS.) Stems 1{1/2}--4 deg. high,
8--34 grooved, the _ridges_ roughened by two more or less distinct lines
of _tubercles; sheaths elongated_, with a black girdle above the base
and a black limb; ridges of the sheaths obscurely 4-carinate, the teeth
blackish, membranaceous, soon falling off.--Wet banks; common northward.
Formerly in common use for polishing wood and metal. (Eu.)
8. E. robustum, Braun. Stems tall and stout (sometimes 8--10 deg. high and
nearly an inch thick), 20--48-grooved, the _ridges_ roughened _with one
line of transversely oblong tubercles; sheaths rather short_, with a
black girdle at base and a black limb; ridges of the sheaths
tricarinate, the blackish teeth soon falling off.--River-banks, Ohio and
westward.
9. E. laevigatum, Braun. Stems 1--4 deg. high, rather slender, pale green,
14--30-grooved, the ridges almost smooth; sheath slightly enlarged
upward, with a black girdle at the base of the mostly deciduous
white-margined teeth, and rarely also at the base of the sheath; ridges
of the sheath with one keel, or sometimes obscurely tricarinate.--By
streams and in clayey places, Ohio to Minn., and westward.
[*][*] _Stems slender, in tufts, 5--10-grooved; sheaths looser._
10. E. variegatum, Schleicher. _Stems ascending_ (6--18' long), usually
simple from a branched base, _5--10-grooved_; sheaths green variegated
with black above, the 5--10 teeth tipped with a deciduous
bristle.--Shores or river-banks, N. H. (Bellows Falls, _Carey_) and
Niagara to Minn., and northward; rare. (Eu.)
11. E. scirpoides, Michx. _Stems very numerous in a tuft, filiform_
(3--6' high), _flexuous and curving, mostly 6-grooved_, with acute
ridges; _sheaths 3-toothed_, the bristle-pointed teeth more persistent;
central air-cavity wanting.--Wooded hillsides, N. Eng. to Penn., Minn.,
and northward. (Eu.)
ORDER 131. FILICES. (FERNS.)
_Leafy plants, with the leaves_ (fronds) _usually raised on a stalk or
petiole_ (stipe), _rising from a_ (sometimes greatly elongated)
_rootstock, separately rolled up_ (circinate) _in the bud, and bearing
on the under surface or along the margin small reticulated sporangia,
which at length split open and discharge the numerous minute spores.
Prothallus green, above ground, normally monoecious._
SUBORDER I. Polypodiaceae. Sporangia collected in dots, lines, or
variously shaped clusters (_sori_ or _fruit-dots_) on the back or
margins of the frond or its divisions, cellular-reticulated, stalked,
the stalk running into a vertical incomplete many-jointed ring, which by
straightening at maturity ruptures the sporangium transversely on the
inner side, discharging the spores. Fruit dots often covered (at least
when young) by a membrane called the _indusium_ (or less properly the
_involucre_), growing either from the back or the margin of the frond.
(Plates 16--19.)
Tribe I. POLYPODIEAE. Fructification on the back of the frond, in round
or roundish fruit-dots (_sori_) placed on the veins or at the ends of
the veins, without indusium of any kind. Stipes articulated to the
rootstock, leaving a distinct scar when separated. Veins free (not
reticulated) in our species.
1. Polypodium. Sori round, in one or more rows, on each side of the
midrib or of the segments of the frond.
Tribe II. GRAMMITIDEAE. Sori more or less elongated, without indusium,
placed on the back of the frond, usually along the veins or near their
extremities. Veins free in our species.
2. Notholaena. Sori short, of few rather large sporangia, placed near the
tips of the veins; under surface of the frond usually either chaffy,
woolly, or powdery.
Tribe III. PTERIDEAE. Fructification marginal or intramarginal, provided
with a general indusium formed of the (either altered or unchanged)
margin of the frond. Stipes not articulated to the rootstock. Veins free
in all our species.
[*] Sporangia at the ends of the veins, on a reflexed portion of the
margin of the frond.
3. Adiantum. Midrib of the pinnules marginal or none. Stipe black and
polished.
[*][*] Sporangia borne on a continuous marginal vein-like receptacle,
connecting the apices of the veins, and covered by a delicate whitish
indusium formed of the reflexed margin.
4. Pteris. Midrib of the pinnules central. Stipe light colored.