grass. A special type sometimes found is a fringe of hairs fused at base. This is essentially a fringe of 

 relatively long hairs on a short membrane. Careful examination of this membrane will show that 

 many or all of the hairs can be distinguished as continuing to the base but are apparently fused or 

 cemented together. This could appear to be a short membrane that is long ciliate (see ligule mar- 

 gins below). To avoid confusion in this key those ligules where the membranous portion is much 

 shorter than the fringe of hairs has been described as a "fringe of hairs fused at base". Where the 

 membranous portion is much longer than the hairs, the ligule is described as "membranous ciliate". 



Ligule Shapes 



Acuminata 



Acute 



Rounded 



Truncate 



The shape of the ligule (illustrated above) and the ligule margins (illustrated below) apply 

 only to the membranous types. Both shape and margin in most species may vary considerably but in 



Ligule Margins 



Entire 



Notched 



Toothed 



Ciliate 



Ligule hairy on back 



some cases, as the notched margin in timothy, are quite 

 helpful in identification. Margins of ligules often become 

 split or frayed in older leaves, so care should be taken to 

 examine only young fresh blades. 



The length of the ligule may vary from minute (.2mm. 

 long or less) to more than 10 mm. The outer surface of the 

 ligule is usually smooth but careful examination of some 

 ligules with a good magnifier will show them to be minutely 

 hairy on the back. This appears to be a somewhat incon- 

 sistent character, or at least difficult to accurately determine 

 and has not been used in the key. 



