GENUS 100. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



281 



100. NARDUS L. Sp. PI. 53. 1753. 



A low perennial tufted grass, with setaceous rigid leaf-blades and a terminal one-sided 

 slender spike. Spikelets i -flowered, narrow, sessile and single in each notch of the rachis. 

 Scales 2, the lower empty, adnate to the rachis, or almost wanting, the upper flower-bearing, 

 narrow, with involute and hyaline margins ; palet narrow, 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Style elon- 

 gated, undivided. Stigma elongated, short-papillose. Grain linear, glabrous, enclosed in the 

 scale, usually free. [Greek name of spikenard, of uncertain application.] 



A monotypic genus of the Old World. Type species : Nardus stricta L. 



i. Nardus stricta L. Wire-bent. Mat- 

 grass. Nard. Fig. 681. 



Nardus stricta L. Sp. PI. 53. 1753- 



Culms S'-is' tall, erect, simple, rigid, roughish. 

 Sheaths usually at the base of the culm ; ligule \ 

 i" long, rounded; blades setaceous, stiff, rough, \ 

 the i or 2 culm leaves about i' long, erect, the 

 basal ones numerous, 2'-5' long; spike i'-3' in 

 length, strict; spikelets i-flowered, 3"-4" long, 

 arranged alternately in 2 rows on one side of 

 the erect slender rachis, often purplish; lower 

 scale empty, very short, adnate to the rachis, \ 

 sometimes almost wanting ; flowering scale 3"-4" \ 

 long, scabrous, long-acuminate or short-awned. 



Introduced into Newfoundland and at Amherst, 

 Mass. Adventive from Europe. Black Bent. Mat. 

 Reed-grass. July-Aug. 



101. LOLIUM L. Sp. PI. 83. 1753. 



Annual or perennial grasses, with flat leaf- 

 blades and terminal spikes. Spikelets several- 

 flowered, solitary, sessile and alternate in the 

 notches of the usually continuous rachis, com- 

 pressed, the edge of the spikelet (backs of the scales) turned toward the rachis. Scales rigid; 

 lower scale empty in the lateral spikelets, and the 2 lower empty in the terminal ; flowering 

 scales rounded on the back, S~7-nerved ; palets 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct, very 

 short. Stigmas 2, plumose. Grain adherent to the palet. [Latin name for Darnel.] 



About 6 species, natives of the Old World. Type species : Lolium perenne L. 



Empty scale shorter than the spikelet. 



Flowering scales awnless. i. L. perenne. 



Flowering scales awned. 2. L. mulliflorum. 



Empty scale equalling or extending beyond the 



flowering scales. 3. L. temulentum. 



i. Lolium perenne L. Ray-grass. Red 

 Ray. Rye-grass. Ever-grass. Fig. 682. 



Lolium perenne L. Sp. PI. 83. 1753. 



Smooth and glabrous, culms &-2\ tall, erect, 

 simple. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; 

 ligule very short; blades 2'-$' long, i"-2" wide; 

 spike 3'-8' in length; spikelets 5-io-flowered, 

 4"-6" long, the empty scale shorter than the 

 spikelet, strongly nerved ; flowering scales 2"-3" 

 long, obscurely nerved, acuminate. 



In waste places and cultivated grounds almost 

 throughout the northern United States and 

 southern British America. Naturalized from 

 Europe. Native also of Asia. Erroneously called 

 Darnel, this name belonging to Lolium temitlen- 

 tum. Crap. Perennial Rye. Red Darnel. Red Dare. 

 White Nonesuch. English Blue-grass. July-Aug. 



