342 TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA. DdCtl/lis. 



diverging branchlets, each supporting a number of heaped, linear, 

 acuminate, smooth spikelets, of from twenty to fifty-flowers each ; 

 as tliey advance from the apex the lower-florets drop, leaving the 

 zigzag racliis naked as they ripen. — Calj/x, both valves smooth and 

 obtuse. — Seed oval, smooth, brown. 



DACTYLIS. Schreb. Gen. N. 117. 



Calyx two-valved, compressed, one valvelet larger, keeled. Seeds 

 few. • 



1. D. lagopoides. Linn. Sp. PL ed. IVilld. i. 410. Burm. Ind.28. 

 t. \9..f. *1. 



Creeping. Leaves rigid, with spinescent points. Heads globular. 

 Calyces from six to eight-flowered, hairy, as are also the corols ; an- 

 thers blue. 



It is generally found growing on a salt sandy soil near the sea. 



Culms creeping to a great extent, with from four to eight inches of 

 the flower-bearing portions, erect, they are of a firm, ligneous tex- 

 ture, round and smooth, every part of the erect portions covered by 

 the sheaths of the leaves. Leaver numerous, small, approximate, 

 firm, acute, resembling thorns. — Head, or spike terminal, short-pedi- 

 celled, globular, composed of many, closely crowded, sessile, round- 

 ish spikelets — Calyx from six to eight-flowered; glumes equal, 

 shorter than the flowers, obtuse and hairy. — Corol two-valved, ex- 

 terior striated, hairy, and obtuse; i/j/ier membranaceous, involving 

 the stamens and pistillum. — Stamens three. Anthers blue. 



2. D. brevifolia. Linn. Sp- PL ed. Willd. i. 410. 



Creeping, ramous. Leaves short. Heads sub-globular, composed 

 of three, secund spikes. Calyces acute, from six to twelve-flow- 

 ered. Corols hairy, acute. 



It is found on dry sandy ground at a small distance from the sea. 



Culms spreading, ramous, creeping, with their flower-bearing ex- 

 tremities ascending, from six to twelve inches long. Branches ge- 



