44 POACEAE. 



1-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct, short. Grain 

 finally adherent to the palea. 



1. C. cristatus L, Perennial; culms tufted, erect, slender, 3-6 

 dm. high; sheaths smooth, shorter than the internodes; blades of 

 the culm flat, 2-10 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. wide; spike nearly cylindric, 

 oblong or linear, 3-10 cm. long; the clusters of spikelets all turned 

 to one side, the empty ones forming involucres to each cluster. 



On lawns, rarely seen. Los Angeles, Davidson. Native of 

 Europe. 



Z2>. LAMARCKIA Moench. 



A low annual grass with flat leaves and showy 1 -sided 

 panicles of crowded fasciculate spikelets, the fertile 

 spikelets nearly enclosed by the numerous sterile ones. 

 The terminal spikelet of each fascicle fertile, the others 

 (1-3) linear and consisting of many distichously imbri- 

 cated obtuse empty glumes. Fertile spikelets 1 -flowered, 

 with rachilla prolonged into a slender stipe and bearing 

 a small empty awned glume or reduced to an awn. 

 Empty glumes 2, 1-nerved, acuminate or short-awned, 

 slightly unequal; flowering glume broader, 1-nerved, 

 bearing a slender awn just below the apex. Palea nar- 

 row, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct; stig- 

 mas barbellate. 



1. L. aurea (L.) Moench. (Golden-top.) Annual; culms 

 tufted, 2-5 dm. high; sheaths smooth; blades 5-8 mm. wide; panicle 

 linear or oval, 5-8 cm. long; empty glumes of the fertile spikelets 

 narrow, keeled, 4-4.5 mm. long; flowering glume 3 mm. long, oval, 

 bearing a dorsal awn a little below the apex, 6-9 mm. long. 



Common on grassy plains and hills. Native of southern Europe. 



34. POA L. Meadow-grass. 



Annual or perennial grasses with flat or convolute 

 leaves and contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2-6- 

 flowered, compressed, the rachilla usually glabrous. 

 Flowers perfect or rarely dioecious. Glumes membran- 

 ous, keeled; the 2 lower empty, 1-3-nerved; the flower- 

 ing glumes longer than the empty ones, generally with 

 a tuft of cobwebby hairs at the base, 5-nerved, the mar- 

 ginal nerves usually pubescent, often also the dorsal one. 

 Palea a little shorter than the glumes, 2-nerved or 

 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct. Grain 

 free or sometimes adherent to the palea. 



