Spikelets 1/20 to 1/6 inch long; grain obovoid; stamens 2; panicle narrow interrupted, 6 to 18 inches long 1. E. interrupta. BB. Rachilla of spikelets tough, persistent; flowering glumes falling away from base upwards. C. Spikelets pedicellate. Spikelets flat, ovate-elliptic or oblong, lateral nerves of flowering glumes very prominent and straight, almost percurrent; palea deciduous with their glumes 2. E. amabilis. Spikelets less compressed, linear or linear-oblong; lateral nerves less prominent; not fascicled, long pedicellate and divaricate when ripe. Leaf margins without glands. Spikelets versatile, narrow, linear 1 inch or more long, branches of panicle solitary 3. E. tremula. Leaf margins glandular. First glume 1-nerved and second glume 3-nerved 4. E. major. First glume and second glume 1-nerved 5. E. Willdenoviana. Spikelets small, 1/4 inch or less, branches of panicle whorled 6. E. pilosa. CC. Spikelets sessile and jointed on the very short densely crowded branchlets of a tall, narrow raceme like panicle, deciduous, acute, much compressed, imbricate and secund 7. E. cynosuroides. AA. Spikelets in a long terminal spike. Spikelets distichously spreading, secund, keels of palea winged 8. E. bifaria. =Eragrostis interrupta, _Beauv._= (_Var. Koenigii_, Stapf.) This is a tall grass, annual or perennial, with erect stems 1 to 3 feet or more. The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous and close. The _ligule_ is a short, fimbriate membrane. _Nodes_ are glabrous. The _leaf-blade_ is narrow, flat, acuminate, glabrous on both sides, 3 to 10 inches long. The _panicle_ is erect, narrow, contracted, with branches in pseudo-whorls and varying in length from 6 to 18 inches, branches are slender, filiform, two or more arising from the same level, 1 to 3 inches long. The _spikelets_ are small, pedicellate, smooth, usually 6 to 14-flowered, pale but often tinged with red, the rachilla is jointed between the flowering glumes, and breaks away from above downwards. The empty _glumes_ are very small, subequal, ovate-oblong, hyaline, obtuse and 1-nerved. Floral _glumes_ also are small but slightly longer than the empty ones, ovate-oblong, obtuse and paleate, palea is linear-oblong with smooth or scabrid keels. _Stamens_ are two with small anthers. Grain is obovoid. [Illustration: Fig. 217.--Eragrostis interrupta. Var. Koenigii. 1. Two spikelets; 2 and 3. empty glumes; 4. empty glumes with two flowering glumes and their palea; 5. flowering glumes and palea; 6. ovary and two stamens; 7. grain.]