3.")G GRASS FAMILY. 



viz. HIEROCHLOA RORE.X.LI9, SENECA or HoLY-Gn.*ss, being rare) : low. 

 slender, soft and smooth ; the pale brown or greenish spikclcts crowded in an 

 evident spike-like panicle ; each compo-ed of a pair of thin very unequal glumes, 

 above and within these a pair of obcordate or 2-lolted hairy empty palets, one 

 with a lient awn from near its ba.-e, the other with a shorter awn higher up; 

 above and within these a pair of very small smooth and roundish pain-, of 

 parchment-like texture, enclosing 2 stamens and the 2-styled pistil, finally in- 

 vesting the grain. 2/ 



Alopeeurus pratensis, MEADOW FOXTAIL. Introduced from Europe 



ahundantlv into meadows K. : flowering in spring; stem about 2 high, bearing 

 few pale soft leaves, terminated by a cylindrical soft and dense spike, or what 

 seems to be so, for the spikelets are really borne on short side branches, not on 

 the main axis ; these spikelets very flat contrary to the glumes, which are con- 

 duplicate, united by their edges towards the base, keeled, fringed-ciliate on the 

 keel; these enclose a single conduplicate lower palet (the upper one wholly 

 wanting) which bears a long awn from below the middle of the back, and sur- 

 rounds 3 stamens and the pistil. 



* * Awn, if any, from the apex of the glumes or palets. 



->- Spikelels densely crowded in a long perfectly cylindrical apparent spike, each spike- 

 Itt strictly \-jl<nr< 1 1 d : gliding '2, k /< <l and nearly conduplicate, aim-pointed, 

 much larger and oj jiriiur texture than the thin and truncate awn/ess palets. 



Phl&um pratense, CAT-TAIL GRASS, TIMOTHY, or HERD'S GRASS; 

 introduced from En.; a coarse but most valuable meadow grass, 2-4 hi.i:h. 

 with green roughMi spike 3'- 8' long; the small spikelets are crowded on very 

 short branches, and therefore the seeming spike is not a true one. ^ 



+. H_ Xpiki-h't-i sirirtlt/ spliced all on one side of a flattened jointiess rhachis, much 

 cruirdid: t/i>< 2-5 spikes digitate, i. e. a// on the a/iex of the flowering stem : 

 pulets awiittss. Finger-grass miijht be sought here ; see Panicum below. 



** Flower only one to each spikelet, and a mere rudiment beyond it, awnless. 



Cynodon Dactylon, IU-.RMI-DA or SCITTCII GRASS. An introduced weed 

 chieflv S., where it is useful in sandy soil, where a better grass is not to 

 be had ; creeping extensively, the rigid creeping stems with short flatfish 

 leaves and sending up flowering shoots a few inches high, bearing the 3-5 slender 

 spikes. T/ 



*+ ++ Flowers 3 - T> or more in each spiki'hi, the uppermost generally imperftct . 

 sfid loose, proportionally large, rough-wrinkled. 



Eleusine Indica, CRAB-GRASS, YARD-GRASS, DOU'S-TAIL, or WiiiE- 

 GRVSS. Introduced only in yards or lawns X., more abundant S., where it is 

 valuable for cattle; low," spreading over the ground, pale; glumes and palets 

 pointless. 



Dactyloct6nium JEgyptlacum, EGYPTIAN GRASS. Yards and fields, 

 chieflv a weed, S. : creeping over the ground, low ; spikes dense and thickish ; 

 glumes flattened laterally and keeled, one of them awn-pointed, the strongly 

 keeled boat-shaped lower "palet also pointed. 



+.+.*- Spikekts spiked alternately on opposite sitls of a zi,,z,tn jointed rhachis. 

 +* Glume only one to the solitary spib'lcl, which stands edgewise. 



L61ium pcr6nne, D \UXEI.. RYE-GRASS, or KAY GBABS. Introduced 

 from Europe : a good pasture-grass, l-2 high, with loose spike 5 -6 tone, 

 of 12 or more about 7-flowered spikelets placed cd-vwi-e. BO that one row of 

 (lowers is next the glume, the other next the rhachis ; lower palet sliort-awned 

 or awnless. 



Glumes a p,i:r to the single spiMf, right <i,,,l left at each joint of the rhachis. 



Triticum r6pens, Cor. II-HKASS, <>i ITCH or QUICK-GRASS, O^e , belongs 

 to the section with perennial roots; this spreads amazingly by its vigorous 

 long running rootstocks, is a pest in cultivated fields, and is too coarse and 



