GRAMINE.^. 245 



P. de B., are pretty common. One of them, often called Fox- 

 tail Grass, from its long and large bristly spike, is common about 

 . gardens and fields, and seems to follow man. )S. viridisj is found 

 in the vicinity of Boston. 



DiGiTARiA. Walter. 3. 2. Crab Grass. Finger Grass. 



Named from its finger-like form of spikes. The 2 species 

 were ranked with the Panic Grasses. They grow in dry and 

 sandy soils. The common one, D. sanguinalis. Scop., has a 

 reddish or purplish culm, rather prostrate, spreads rapidly over 

 the fields. The seeds are employed for food in Poland. The 

 other is called ^/i/ormw, Ell., from its thread-like culm and spikes. 



Eleusine. Gaertner. 3. 2. Wire Grass. 



From Eleusis, a name of Ceres, the goddess of grasses. 

 Loudon. Glumes 5-7-flowered, obtuse, equal ; scales truncate. 



E. Indica. Lmk. Spread widely over Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 and America ; common in cultivated grounds ; not much used by 

 animals. Culm 1—2 feet high, compressed, declined; spikes 

 straight, erect, in pairs or fours ; July. 



PoA. L. 3. 2. Meadow Grass. 



From the Greek for herb ; one of the most important grasses 

 for the support of cattle. More than 30 species are native or 

 cultivated in England, and 24 are credited to the Northern States, 

 and 18 species to this State. 



Spikelets oblong, hnear, compressed, many-flowered, from 

 3 — 20 ; glumes shorter than the florets ; inner chafl" or paleae 

 sometimes woolly at the base ; scales smooth ; panicled, branched. 



P. pratensis. L. Common Spear Grass. This well-known 

 and abundant meadow grass forms a great proportion of the turf 

 or greensward of pastures and meadows ; found in all situations, 

 except as an aquatic. To this should be added P. trivialis, L., 

 and P. annua^ L., as another part of turf grasses. The latter is 

 small, low, forming a dense mat by walls, in yards, along the 

 streets and fields, springing up early in the spring, and flowering 



