656 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.; 



1. B. OligOStaehya, Torr. Glabrous, perennial (6-12' high); leaves 

 verij narrow ; spikes 1 - 5, the rhachis glabrous; glumes all sparinglij soji-hairt/, 

 the lobes awl-pointed; sterile floiver copiously villous-tufled at the summit of 

 the naked perlioel, its 3 awns e(iualling the larger glume. — N. W. Wise, to 

 N. Dak., and south to Tex. and Mex. — Glumes obscurely if at all papillose 

 along the keel, the middle lobe of the flowering one 2-cleft at the tip. Sterile 

 Howers often 2, the second mostly a large avvnless scale, becoming hood-iike 

 and coriaceous. 



2. B. hirstlta, Lag. Tufted (8-20' high), perennial; leaves flat, lance 

 linear, papillose-hairy or glabrous ; spikes 1 -4 ; upper emptij glume hispid with 

 strong bristles //'Orti dark warty glands; flowering glume j)uhe scent, 3-cleft into 

 awl-pointed lobes ; sterile flower and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns longer than 

 the glumes and fertile flower. — Sandy plains, 111., Wise, Minn., and south 

 westward to Mex. 



§ 2. ATHEROPOGON. Spikes shoH, numerous m a long and virgate one 

 sided spike or raceme, spreading or reflexed, each of few (4-12) spikelets ; 

 sterile floiver s neutral, rudimentary. 



3. B, racemosa, Lag. (PI. 9, fig. l, 2.) Culms tufted from perennial 

 rootstocks (1 -3° high) ; sheaths often hairy; leaves narrow; spikes Y or less 

 in length, nearly sessile, 20 - 60 in number in a loose general spike (8-15' 

 long) ; floAvers scabrous ; glume of the fertile with 3 short awd-pointed teeth ; 

 sterile flower reduced to a single small aw^n, or mostly to 3 awns shorter than 

 the fertile flower, and I or 2 small or minute scales. (B. curtipendula, Gray.) 

 — Dry hills and plains, southern X. Y. to Minn., and south to Tex. and Mex. 

 July - Sept. — Passes by transitions into var. arist6sa, with spikes shorter ; 

 sterile flower of a large saccate glume, aw^ned at the 2-cleft tip and from the 

 lateral nerves, the middle awn exserted, and with a rudiment of a palet. — 111. 

 (Geyer), and southward. 



47. ELEUSINE, Gaertn. Crab-Grass. Yard-Grass. (PI. 9.) 



Spikelets 2 - 6-floAvered, wuth a terminal imperfect flow^er or naked rudi- 

 ment, closely imbricate-spiked on one side of a flattish rhachis ; the spikes 

 digitate. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the floAvers; flowering glume 

 and palet awnless, the glume ovate, keeled, larger than the palet. Stamens 3. 

 Pericarp (utricle) containing a loose wrinkled seed. — Low^ annuals, with flat 

 leaves, and flowers much as in Poa. (Name from 'E\ev(T^u, the town Avhere 

 Ceres, the goddess of liarvests, was worshipped.) 



E. Indica, Gaertn. (Dog's-tail or Wire Grass.) (PI. 9, fig. 1 - 6.) 

 Culms ascending, flattened; spikes 2-5 (about 2' long, greenish); glumes 

 oointless; terminal flower a mere rudiment. — Yards, etc., chiefly southward. 

 (Nat. from Ind. ?) 



E. JEgyptiaca, Pers. (PI. 9, fig. 1 -4, as Dactyloctenium.) Culms often 

 creeping at base ; leaves ciliate at base ; spikes 4- 5 ; lower glume awned and 

 the flowering one pointed. (Dactyloctenium ^gyptiacum, Willd.) — Culti- 

 vated fields and yards, Va., 111., and southward. (Adv. from Afr. 1 ) 



48. LEPTOCHLOA, Beauv. (PI. 15.) 



Spikelets 3 - many-flowered (the uppermost flower imperfect), loosely spiked 

 on one side of a long filiform rhachis ; the spikes racemed. Glumes men[^- 

 branaceous, keeled, rarely awned, nearly equal; flowering glume 3 -nerved 



