ed 
GRASS FAMILY. 173 
3. Avena fatua L. Wild Oat. (Fig. 395.) 
Avena fatua I, Sp. Pl. 80, 1753. 
Culms 1°-4° tall, erect, simple, stout, smooth and 
glabrous. Sheaths smooth, or scabrous at the summit, 
sometimes sparingly hirsute, the lower often overlap- 
ping; ligule 1-2’ long; leaves 3’—8/ long, 1//—4’’ wide; 
panicle open, 4/—12/ in length, the branches ascending; 
spikelets 2-4-flowered, drooping; outer scales 3¢/-1/ in 
length, smooth, enclosing the flowering scales; flower- 
ing scales 6/’-9’ long, with a ring of stiff brown 
hairs at the base, pubescent with long rigid brown 
hairs, bearing a long bent and twisted awn. 
In fields and waste places, Dakota and Minnesota; 
abundant on the Pacific Coast. Naturalized from Europe 
or Asia. July—Sept. 
45. ARRHENATHERUM Beauv. Norost: Ss Game pela Pols, eLG2. 
Tall perennial grasses, with flat leaves and contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2-flow- 
ered; lower flower staminate, upper perfect; rachilla extended beyond the flowers. Scales 4, 
the 2 lower empty, thin-membranous, keeled, very acute or awn-pointed, unequal, persistent, 
flowering scales rigid, 5-7-nerved, deciduous, the first bearing a long bent and twisted dorsal 
awn, inserted below the middle, the second unawned; palet hyaline, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. 
Styles short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid, free. [Greek, referring to the awn 
of the staminate scale. ] ~ \ 
Six species, natives of the Old World. SW | 
ae SA 
1. Arrhenatherum elatius (L,.) Beauv. SN (/ 
Oat-grass. (Fig. 396.) SX 
Avena elatior I,. Sp. Pl. 79. 1753. is 
Arrhenatherum avenaceum Beauv. Agrost. 152. Name \\ 
only. 1812. S\ 
Arrhenatherum elatius Beauv.; M. & K. Deutsch. FI. 1: \ 
546. 1823. Q 
Glabrous, culms 2°-4° tall, erect, simple. Lower 
sheaths longer than the internodes; ligule 1’’ long; 
leaves 2'4/-12/ long, 1’’-4’’ wide, scabrous; panicle 4/— WS 
12’in length, contracted, the branches erect, the lower 4 : 
1/-2/ long; empty scales finely roughened, the second ne 
4” long, the first shorter; flowering scales about 4’’ long. 
In fields and waste places, Maine and Ontario to Geor- 2 
gia and Tennessee. Also on the Pacific Coast. Naturalized 53h 
from Europe. June-Aug. > 
46. DANTHONIA DC. FI. France, 3: 32. 1805. 
Mostly perennial grasses, with flat or convolute leaves and contracted or open panicles. 
Spikelets 3-many-flowered, the flowers all perfect, or the upper staminate; rachilla pubes- 
cent, extending beyond the flowers. Scales 5-many, the 2 lower empty, keeled, acute, sub- 
equal, persistent, generally extending beyond the uppermost flowering one; flowering scales 
rounded on the back, 2-toothed, deciduous, the awn arising from between the acute or awned 
teeth, flat and twisted at base, bent; palet hyaline, 2-keeled near the margins, obtuse or 
2-toothed. Stamens3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, enclosed in the scale. 
{Name in honor of Etienne Danthoine, a Marseilles botanist of the last century. ] 
A genus of about 100 species, widely distributed in warm and temperate regions, chiefly in 
South Africa. 
Empty scales ‘2’ long or less; sheaths glabrous or sometimes sparingly pubescent at the base. 
Teeth of the flowering scale about ''’ long, acute; culm leaves short; panicle contracted. 
1. DL). spicata. 
Teeth of the flowering scale 1''-114'' long, awned; culm leaves elongated; panicle usually open. 
2. D. compressa. 
Empty scales more than '%' long; sheaths usually villous. 3. D. sericea. 
