342 uc TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA, Dactylis. 
diverging branchjets, each supporting a number of heaped, linear, 
acuminate, smooth spikelets, of from twenty to fifty-flowers each; 
as they advance. from the apex the lower-florets drop, leaving the 
zigzag rachis naked as they ripen.—Calyx, both valves smooth - 
obtuse.— Seed oval, smooth, brown. ; 
 DACTYLIS. Schreb. Gen. N. 117. 2 
Calyx two-valved, compressed, one valvelet larger, keeled. Seeds 
few. 
1. D. lagopoides. Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. Willd. i. 410. Burm. Indes 
£; 12. f..9. . 
‘Creeping. Leaves rigid, with spinescent points. Heads globular. 
Calyces from six to eight-flowered, hairy, as are also the corals ; an- 
thers blue. Me ii 
It is generally found growing on a salt Sandy soil near the sea. 
Culms creeping to a great extent, with from four to eight inches of 
the flower-bearing portions, erect, they are of a firm, ligneous tex- 
ture, round and smooth, every part of the erect portions covered by 
the sheaths of the leaves. — Leaves numerous, small, approximate, 
firm, acute, résembling thorns.— Head; or spike terminal, short-pedi- 
celled, globular, composed of many, closely crowded, sessile, round- 
ish spikelets.—Calyr from six to eight-flo wered ; glumes equal, 
shorter than the flowers, obtuse and hairy.—Corol two-valved, exe 
terior striated, hairy, and. obtuse; inner membranaceous, involving 
the stamens and: pistillum.—Stamens three. Anthers blue... 
2. D. brevifolia. Linn. Sp. Pi. ed. Willd. i. 410. 
Creeping, ramous. Leaves short. Heads sub-globular, composed 
of three, secund spikes. —— Calyces acute, from six to twelve-flow- eM 
ered. — Corols hairy, acute. 
It is found on dry sandy ground at a small distance from the sea. 
Culms spreading, ramous, creeping, with their flower-bearing €X- _ 
tremities ascending, from six to twelve — long. Serge E 
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