POACEAE. 5 



Family 1. ELODEACEAE. Tape-grass Family. 



Plants with leafy stems, or leaves basal, often greatly elongate. Gynoe- 

 eium 2-o-carpellaiy, the ovaiy 1-celled. 



' 1. HAIjOPHILA Thouars. Marine herbs. Leaves opposite or \Yhorled. 

 Flowers dioecious, the staminate pedicelled, the pistillate sessile in the spathes. 

 Fruit included in the spathe. 



1. H. Engelmannii Aschers. Leaf -blades linear, oblong or oblanceolate, 1-3 em. 

 long, sharply serrulate, 3-nerved, sessile: flowers and fruits not seen. — Shallow 

 water, U. S. keys, U. keys, L. keys. — [E. K.] — (Bah.) 



'^ Family 2. HYDROCHARITACEAE. Frog's-bit Family. 



Plants with leaves in clusters on the rootstocks. Gynoeeium 6-12- 

 carpellary, the ovaiy 6-12-cellecl. 



M 1. THAIjASSIA Banks. Marine herbs. Leaves mere strap-like blades. 

 Flowers dioecious, on scapes arising from the leaf-clusters ; the staminate dis- 

 tinctly pedicelled, with 3 petaloid sepals, and 9 stamens with very short fila- 

 ments and long anthers; the pistillate flowers nearly sessile. Fruit rugose, 

 echinate or mammillate, valvate. 



1. T. testudinum Koenig & Sims. Leaves 2-5 together ; blades linear, 5-30 cm, 

 long, about 1 cm. wide or less, the bases persistent on the short stems : sepals 

 oblong, 10-12 mm. long: anthers 8 mm. long: fruits erect, densely mammillate. 

 — Shallow water, TJ. S. keys, U. keys, L. keys. — [E. K.]—{Ber., Bah., Cuha, 

 Ant.) — Turtle-grass. 



Order POALES. 



Mostly perennial caulescent or acaulescent plants, known as grasses 

 and sedges. Stems sometimes conspicuously jointed. Leaves alternate, 

 mostly sheathing at the base : blades usually narrow and elongate, entii-e or 

 nearly so. Flowers variously disposed in a simple or compound inflores- 

 cence, perfect or rarely monoecious or dioecious, incomplete, inconspicuous, 

 borne in the axils of chaffy bracts or scales (glumes). Fruit a caryopsis 

 (grain) or an achene, or rarely a nut, or baccate. 



Leaves 2-rankecl, their sheaths with un-united margins : stem mostly hollow : fruit a 



grain (caryopsis). Fam. 1. Poaceae. 



Leaves 3-ranked, their sheaths with united margins : stem 



solid : fruit an achene. Fam. 2. Cyperaceae. 



" Family 1. POACEAE. Grass Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or rarely shrub-like or tree-like plants. 

 Stems (culms) usually hollow, the nodes closed. Leaves with a scarious 

 ring (ligule) at the sheath-orifice. Inflorescence of spikes, racemes, or pani- 

 cles. Spikelets of 2-many 2-ranked imbricate bi^acts (scales), the upper 

 ones bearing a flower surrounded by a bract-like organ (palet) which is 

 placed with its back to the axis (rachilla), which is often thickened and 

 appears as a hard projection (callus) at the base of the scale. Flowers 

 perfect, staminate, or pistillate. Stamens 1-6, rarely more, usually 3. 

 Fruit sometimes nut-like. 



