120 



POACEAE 



1. Homalocenchrus oryzoides CL.) Poll. 



Rice Cut-grass. 



Fi2-. 251. 



Phalaris oryzoides L. Sp. PI. 55. 1753. 



Homalocenchrus oryzoides Poll. Hist. PI. Palat. 1: 52. 1776. 



Lecrsia oryzoides Swartz, Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 21. 1788. 



Culms erect from a decumbent base, much branched, 

 bearing slender rhizomes ; sheaths glabrous ; ligule 

 short ; blades flat, very rough, 8-20 cm. long, 4-10 mm. 

 wide; panicle diffusely branched, lax, 12-20 cm. long, 

 the branches naked at base, finally drooping; spike- 

 lets 4-5 mm. long, narrowly oblong; lemma hispid, 

 strongly bristly-ciliate on the keel. 



Marshes and wet places, often forming zones around ponds; 

 Transition Zone; eastern Washington and Oregon, eastward to 

 the Atlantic Coast and northern Eurasia; also at San Bernardino, 

 California (Parish). Aug. -Oct. Type locality, European. 



13. PHALARIS L. Sp. PI. 54. 1753. 



Spikelets of one terminal perfect floret and 2 sterile lemmas, laterally compressed, dis- 

 articulating above the glumes, arranged in usually dense spikelike panicles ; glumes 2, 

 equal, boat-shaped, often winged on the keel ; sterile lemmas reduced to 2 small scales 

 (rarely only 1) remaining attached to the perfect floret; fertile lemma coriaceous, shorter 

 than the glumes, inclosing the faintly 2-nerved palea. Annual or perennial erect grasses 

 with flat blades. [An ancient Greek name for a grass.] 

 Species about 20, in temperate regions of Europe and America. 



Spikelets in groups of 7, 1 fertile surrounded by 6 sterile. 

 Spikelets single, all alike. 

 Plants perennial. 



Rhizomes absent; panicle dense, ovate or oblong. 

 Rhizomes present; panicle spreading during anthesis. 

 Plants annual. 



Glumes broadly winged; panicle ovate or short-oblong. 

 Sterile lemma solitary; fertile lemma 3 mm. long. 

 Sterile lemmas in pairs; fertile lemma 4-6 mm. long. 

 Sterile lemma .6 mm. long. 

 Sterile lemma half as long as fertile. 

 ■^ Glumes wingless or nearly so; panicles oblong or linear, dense. 



Glumes acuminate; fertile lemma turgid, the acuminate apex smooth. 

 Glumes acute; fertile lemma less turgid, villous to the acute apex. 

 Panicle 2-5 cm. long; sterile lemmas one-third as long as fertile. 

 Panicle 5-12 cm. long; sterile lemma half as long as fertile. 



Type species, Phalaris canaricnsis L. 

 1. P. paradoxa. 



8. P. caroliniana. 



9. P. angusta. 



1. Phalaris paradoxa L 

 Paradox Canary-grass 



Fig. 252. 



Phalaris paradoxa L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 2: 1665. 1763. 



Annual ;, culms cespitose, more or less spreading 

 at base, 30-60 cm. tall ; panicle dense, oblong, nar- 

 rowed at base, 2-5 cm. long, often inclosed at base 

 in the uppermost enlarged sheath ; spikelets finally 

 falling from the axis in groups of 7, the central 

 fertile, nearly sessile, the others sterile, slender- 

 pediceled; glumes of sterile spikelets narrow, with 

 faint lateral nerves, the keel prominently winged 

 above, the wing extending into a more or less well- 

 marked tooth, the apex of the glume narrowed into 

 an acuminate point or awn, the glumes of the 4 

 outer sterile spikelets in the lower part of the panicle 

 more or less deformed ; glumes of fertile central 

 spikelet lanceolate, 6-8 mm. long including awn, the 

 lateral nerves prominent, the wing on the keel more 

 tooth-like, the apex of the gluine narrowed into an 

 awn about 2 mm. long; fertile lemma smooth and 

 shining, 3 mm. long, the sterile lemmas obsolete. 



Occasional in grain fields; California (Richmond, Cong- 

 don). Introduced from Europe. Type locality, the Orient. 

 Phalaris paradoxa praemorsa (Lam.) Coss. & Dur. Expl. Alg. 2: 25. 1854. Phalaris /"•°'''"^'-';° ^am^ 

 Fl. Frang. 3: 566. 1778. Sterile spikelets short-pediceled, the 4 outer much reduced, the apex deformed or 

 variously incurved; fertile spikelet somewhat indurate, several-nerved at base, acuminate, the wing tin-like 



'" n^'ew's^'and waste places; rare, California (Berkeley Hills, Davy; San Diego, Brandegcc), and Oregon 

 (Linnton, Nelson). Introduced from Europe. Type locality: France. 



