POACEAE. 6 1 



and margins; palea as long as the glume; styles distinct; grain 

 free. 



Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Bermuda-grass. Low, 5-30 cm. high, 

 loosely branched and extensively creeping by rootstocks or stolons, glabrous; 

 leaf blades flat; ligules very short but bearing a ring of white bristles; branches 

 of the umbel 4-6; spikelets 2 mm. long. 



Sparingly introduced. 



88. ELEUSINE. 



Tufted annuals with rather stout unilateral spikes digitately 

 arranged at the tip of the stem; spikelets several-flowered, sessile, 

 closely imbricated in 2 rows along one side of the rachis; rachilla 

 jointed above the glumes; lemmas compressed, keeled, thin but 

 rigid, obtuse; palea a little shorter than the lemma, compressed; 

 seed finely striated. 



Eleusine indica Gaertn. Goose-grass. Glabrous annual; stems flattened, 

 erect or decumbent, 15-60 cm. high; sheaths overlapping; spikes 3-8 cm. long, 

 2-10 in an umbel, bearing the 3-5-flowered spikelets on the lower side. 



Introduced from the oriental tropics. 



89. LOLIUM. 



Annuals or perennials with simple erect stems and simple 

 terminal spikes; spikelets several-flowered, solitary and sessile 

 in alternate notches of the rachis, one edge of the spikelet against 

 the rachis; glume 1 (2 in the terminal spikelet), on the side away 

 from the rachis, shorter or longer than the lemmas which are 

 rounded on the back and 5-7-nerved, with an obtuse, acute or 

 awned apex; grain smooth, adherent to the palea. 



Glumes longer than the spikelet. L. temulentum. 

 Glumes shorter than the spikelet. 



Lemmas awned; young leaves involute. L. multiflorum. 



Lemmas awnless; young leaves folded. L. perenne. 



Lolium temulentum L. Darnel. Annual; spikelets 5-8-flowered; lemma 

 awnless or short-awned. 

 Sparingly introduced. 



Lolium multiflorum Lam. Italian Rye-grass. Glabrous, tufted; stems 

 erect, 60-90 cm. high; sheaths usually shorter than the internodes; blades 

 3-8 mm. wide, involute in the bud; ligule short, truncate; spikes 20-30 cm. 

 long; spikelets 7-9-flowered; glumes shorter than the spikelet; lemma narrowly 

 elliptic, the awn as long as the body. 



Introduced from Europe. 



Lolium perenne L. English or Perennial Rye-grass. Perennial; young 

 leaves folded; spikelets 8-15-flowered, 8-12 mm. long; lemmas 5-6 mm. long, 

 awnless or short-awned. 



Naturalized from Europe. 



90. AGROPYRON. WHEAT-GRASS. 



Perennials with simple stems and terminal spikes; spikelets 

 3-many-flowered, sessile, single and alternate at each notch of 



