no 



POACEAE 



1. Syntherisma sanguinalis (L.) Diilac. 



Crab-grass. 



Fig. 224. 



1772. 



Panicnin sangiiinale L. Sp. PI. 57. 1753. 

 Digitaria sanguinalis Scop. Fl. Carn. ed. 2. 1: 52. 

 Syntherisma praeco.v Walt. Fl. Carol. 76. 1788. 

 Syntherisma sanguinalis Dulac, Fl. Haut. Pyr. 77. 1867. 



Annual, usually much-branched at base ; culms 30-60 

 cm. long, geniculate-spreading, or creeping and rooting 

 at the nodes, the flower-stalks ascending ; sheaths more 

 or less papillose-hirsute ; blades lax, 6-10 cm. long, 

 4-10 mm. wide, often pilose ; racemes 3-12, subdigi- 

 tate, 5-10 cm. long; spikelets in pairs, 3-3.5 mm. long, 

 usually appressed-pubescent between the smooth or 

 scabrous nerves; pedicels angled; first glume minute; 

 second glume about half as long as the spikelet ; fruit 

 lead color. 



A weed in cultivated soil; occasional on the Pacific slope; 

 common in the warmer parts of America; a native of the Old 

 World. June-Sept. Type locality, European. 



Syntherisma ischaemum (Schreb.) Nash (S. hnniifusa Rydb.) has been found at Walla Walla. Plant 

 glabrous; first glume wanting, second and sterile lemma glandular-puberulent ; fruit dark brown. 



6. ERIOCHLOA H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 94. pis. 30, 31. 1816. 



Spikelets dorsally compressed, more or less pubescent, solitary or sometimes in pairs, 

 short-pediceled or subsessile in 2 rows on one side of a narrow, usually hairy rachis, tlie 

 pedicels often clothed with long stiff hairs, the back of the fertile lemma turned from the 

 rachis; first glume represented by a prominent ring below the spikelet; second glume and 

 sterile lemma about equal, acute or acuminate, the lemma usually inclosing a hyaline palea 

 or sometimes a staminate flower ; fertile lemma indurate, minutely papillose-rugose, 

 mucronate or awned, the margins slightly inrolled. Annuals or perennials, with terminal 

 panicles consisting of several or many spreading or appressed racemes, usually rather 

 closely arranged along the main axis. [Greek, wool-grass.] 



Species about 15 in the warmer parts of the world, mostly in America. Type species, Eriochloa dis- 

 lachva H. B. K. 



1. Eriochloa aristata Vasey. 

 Awned Eriochloa. Fig. 225. 



Eriochloa aristata Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 229. 1886. 



Plants annual ; culms 30-100 cm. tall, smooth ; 

 blades flat, 10-20 cm. long, 3-10 mm. wide, smooth ; 

 panicle 8-12 cm. long ; spikes several, appressed, 2-3 

 cm. long, the rachis more or less villous; spikelets 

 lanceolate, appressed-silky, 5 mm. long excluding the 

 awn-point of the second glume, the pedicels with a 

 tuft of stift' hairs near the apex; fruit oval, about 

 half as long as the sterile lemma, apiculate. 



Alluvial land along the Colorado River at Fort Yuma. ; 

 Sept. -Dec. Type locality: Chihuahua. 



7. PASPALUM L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 855. 1759. 



Spikeless plano-convex, subsessile, solitary or in pairs, in two rows on one side of a 

 narrow or dilated rachis, the back of the fertile lemma toward it ; first glume wanting or 

 occasionally present in a few spikelets ; second glume and sterile lemma about equal ; 

 fertile lemma obtuse, chartaceous-indurate, the margins inrolled. Mostly perennials, with 

 1 to many spikelike racemes, these single or paired at the summit of the culms or race- 

 mosely arranged along the main axis. [Greek name for some grass.] 



Species numerous, probably as many as 200, widely distributed in the warmer parts of both hemispheres. 

 Type species, Pas(>alum dimidiatuni L. 



Racemes 2, digitate. 1. p. distich urn. 

 Racemes several to many, racemose, forming a panicle. 



Racemes several to many, laxly spreading; spikelets about 3.5 mm. long. 2. P. dilatatum. 



Racemes numerous, erect or suberect; spikelets scarcely over 2 mm. long. 3. P. larranagae. 



