Eleusine. CLXI. GRAMINEiE. gj7 



glabrous, rough-edged ; sheaths longer than the internodes ; panicle loose, 8—12' 

 long, nodding; spikckts all on long peduncles, about 10" long, ovate, flat, about 

 10-tlowered ; ghimcs unequal, near twice shorter than the flowers ; fls. subfal- 

 cate, 6" long, lower one abortive ; sta. l.~% Dry woods, middle and Western 

 States. Singularly elegant and showy. Aug. 



2. U. GRACILIS. Michx. (Holcus laxus. Linn.) 



St. slender, leafy, 3 — 4f high ; Ivs. broad-linear, tapering to a slender point, 

 flat, 12 — 18' long; sheaths shorter than the joints; panicle long, racemose' 

 branches solitary, short, remote, erect; spi/cekls 3-flowered; fs. spreading! 

 straight, monand'rous ; glumes rigid, acute. — % Sea coasts, N. Y. to Ga. Au°-.' 



3. U. spicATA. (Festuca distachophylla. Michx.) 



iS/. smooth, round, branched at base, 1 — 2f high; cauline Ivs. numerous, 

 3 — 6' long, involute, rigid and acute ; sheaths longer than the joints, close, upper 

 ones hairy at throat ; slip, inconspicuous ; panicle densely spicate, consisting of 



short, fasciculate branches with sessile spikelets ; spikelets oblong, 5 9-flower- 



ed ; fis. triandrous. — n\. Salt marshes, N. Y. to Car. July. 



44. MELICA. 

 Lat. mel, honey ; the plant to which the name was first applied had a meeet pith. 



Panicle simple or compound ; glumes 2, unequal, membranous, 

 2 — 5-flowered ; fls. a little longer than the glumes, the upper incom- 

 plete and abortive ; scales truncate, fimbriate ; caryopsis free, not 

 furrowed. 



M. GLABRA. Walt. (M. speciosa. Muhl.) 



St. 3 — 4f high, glabrous ; Ivs. linear, flat, pubescent beneath ; stip. lace- 

 rate ; paiikle glabrous, loose, few-flowered, erect or a little nodding, branches 

 simple, solitary ; spikelets 6 — 8" long ; lower glume shorter, very smooth : palea 

 veined ; upper ^. neuter, pedicellate, consisting of very short, roundish paleae. — 

 1\ Mountains, Penn. to Car. 



45. DACTYL IS. 



Gr. ^affriiXoj, a finger; from the form of the spikes. 



Spikelets aggregated, compressed, 3 — 5-flowered ; glumes unequal, 

 the larger one carinate, shorter than the flowers ; paleae subequal, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, the lower one emarginate, carinate, mucro- 

 nate, upper bifid at apes ; scales dentate. 



D. GLOME.RATA. Orchard Grass. 



St. roughish,2 — 4f high ; Irs. linear-lanceolate, carinate, a little scabrous, 

 glaucous ; sheaths striate ; stip. lacerate ; panicle remotely branched, rather 

 secund ; spikelets about 4-flowered, in dense, glomerate, unilateral, terminal 

 clusters ; glumes very unequal ; anth. large, yellow. — % A fine, well known 

 grass, of rapid growth, introduced in shady fields, as orchards, &c. June. 



Tribe 8. CHLORE^. — Inflorescence spiked. Spikelets solitary, few-flow- 

 ered, the terminal flower often abortive. Glumes carinate, not opposite. 

 Upper palea with two keels. 



46. ELEUSlNE. 



From Elensis, where Ceres, the goddess of harvests, wa.s worshiped. 



Spikes digitate, unilateral ; spikelets 5 — 7-flowered ; glumes obtuse, 

 unequal, lower one smaller ; paleae unequal, upper one bifid toothed ; 

 scales truncate, fimbriate ; caryopsis triangular, ovate, enclosed in a 

 separate membrane or perigynium. 



E. Indica. Wire Grass. 



St. oblique, compressed, procumbent and branching at base, 12 — 16' long ; 

 lis. linear, somewhat hairy, on smooth, loose sheaths hairy at the throat; 

 spikes 2 — 4, rarely more or less, linear, straight, divaricate, 2— -4' long ; spikelets 



