THE MONOCOTYLEDONES 



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The tribe contains six genera, the most important of which are Arundo, 

 Phragmites and Gynerium. They occur mainly in temperate and tropical 

 regions. The stem of Arundo donax is used for making sticks and fishing- 

 rods. Phragmites communis (Fig. 201 1) is the Common Reed of Britain, 

 where it is often used in thatching roofs. In parts of Europe it grows in 

 great profusion and at the mouth of the Danube it forms great floating fens. 

 The genera Gynerium and Cortaderia are the Pampas grasses of South 

 America, some of which are grown as ornaments in gardens. 



Fig. 201 1. — Phragmites communis. Common 

 Reed. Inflorescences. 



5. Eragrosteae. Annual or perennial herbs with narrow leaf blades. 

 Spikelets two- to many-flowered, mostly hermaphrodite, usually 

 laterally compressed, in open or contracted panicles. Glumes 

 usually persistent, membranous or coriaceous, usually shorter 

 than the outer paleae. Outer paleae usually exserted from the 

 glumes or rarely enclosed by them, one- to three-nerved, two- to 

 four-lobed at the tip, awnless or with straight awn from the tip. 

 Lodicules two, stamens two or three. Fruit a caryopsis, loosely 

 or tightly enclosed by inner and outer paleae, sometimes with a 

 free pericarp. 

 There are about forty genera included in this tribe, most of which are 



characteristic of tropical regions, extending into the warm temperate zones. 



Eragrostis is the largest genus. It is cosmopolitan with over 150 species. 



Eleusine, with ten species, occurs in the tropics. E. coracana is cultivated 



