Sphenopholis pallens (Spreng.) Scribn. Rhodora 8: 145. 1906
/I iVa />a««ns Spreng. Mant.Fl. Hal. 33. 1807.
Aira pollens Muhl. Descr. Gram. 84. 1817. (Type presumably from Pennsylvania; no locality
cited.) Ealonia arislala Scribn. & Merr. Circ. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 27: 7. 1900. (Type from South
Carolina, Curiiss in 1875.) Ealonia pallens Scribn. & Merr. Circ. V. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 27; 7. 1900. (Based on Aira pallens
Spreng.. but the name misapplied to Sphenopholis intermedia Rydb.) Triselum arislatum Nash, in Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 130. 1903. (Presumably based on Ealonia arislala
Scribn. & Merr.) Sphenopholis arislala Heller, Muhlenbergia 6: 12. 1910. (Based on Ealonia arislala Scribn. &
Merr.) Reboulca pallens Farwell, Rep. Mich. Acad. 17; 181. 1916. (Based on Aira pallens Spreng.)
Culms erect, about 60 cm. tall; lower sheaths minutely pubescent, the upper glabrous; ligule truncate, about 1 mm. long; blades flat, glabrous, 1-2 mm. wide; panicle narrow, nodding, loose, or somewhat compact, 15-25 cm. long, the axis nearly glabrous, the capillary branches ascending, the lower distant, some floriferous from near the base, some naked at the base; spikelets about as in 5. intermedia, 2-flowered or 3-flowered, 3-3.5 mm. long; first glume narrow, a little shorter than the second; second lemma scaberulous, usually awned just below the apex, the awn scabrous, usually geniculate, 1-2 mm. long.
Type locvlity; Pennsylvania (MulUenberg).
Distribution; Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Annuals, Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross sect ion, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence lax, widely spreading, branches drooping, pendulous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel hairy, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.