== OO 
GRASS FAMILY. 181 
54- BECKMANNIA Host, Gram. Austr. 3:5. p/. 6. 1805. 
A tall erect grass with flat leaves and erect spikes borne in a terminal panicle. Spike- 
lets 1-2-flowered, globose, compressed. Scales 3 or 4; the 2 lower empty, membranous, sac- 
cate, obtuse or abruptly acute; the flowering scales narrow, thin-membranous; palet hyaline, 
2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free, enclosed in 
the scale and palet. [In honor of Johann Beckmann, 1739-1811, teacher of Natural History 
at St. Petersburg. ] 
A monotypic genus of the north temperate zone. 
MDI INS 
1. Beckmannia erucaefoérmis (I,.) Host. 
Beckmannia. (Fig. 414.) 
ue 
Phalaris erucaeformis I, Sp. Pl. 55. 1753. 
Beckmannia erucaeformts Host, Gram. Austr. 3: 5: 
1805. 
Beckmannia erucaeformis var. uniflora Scribn.; 
Wats. & Coult. in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 628. 1890. 
yyy 
2095 D))) 
ra 
Glabrous, culms 1'4°-3° tall, erect, simple, 
smooth. Sheaths longer than the internodes, 
loose; ligule 2’’-4’’ long; leaves 3/-9/ long, 2//-4/’ 
wide, rough; panicle 4’-10’ in length, simple or 
compound, the spikes about 14’ long; spikelets 
1/’-1}4’’ long, I-2-flowered, closely imbricated in 
two rows on one side of the rachis; scales smooth, 
the outer saccate, obtuse or abruptly acute; flower- 
ing scales acute, the lower generally awn-pointed, 
the upper rarely present. 
In wet places, western Ontario to British Columbia, 
south to Iowa, Colorado and California. July—Sept. 
55- ELEUSINE Gaertn. Fruct. & Sem. 1: Gis the Th, Wi fsksy 
Tufted annual or perennial grasses, with flat leaves and spicate inflorescence, the spikes 
digitate or close together at the summit of the culm. Spikelets several-flowered, sessile, 
closely imbricated in two rows on one side of the rachis, which is not extended beyond them; 
flowers perfect or the upper staminate. Scales compressed, keeled; the 2 lower empty; the 
others subtending flowers, or the upper empty. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plu- 
mose. Grain loosely enclosed in the scale and palet. [From the Greek name of the town 
where Ceres was worshipped. ] 
Species 6, natives of the Old World. Besides the following, two others have been found in 
ballast fillings about the eastern seaports. 
1. Eleusine Indica (1.) Gaertn.  Wire- 
grass. Crab-grass. Yard-grass. 
(Fig. 415.) 
Cynosurus Indicus I, Sp. Pl. 72. 1753. 
Eleusine Indica Gaertn. Fruct. & Sem. 1: 8. 1788. 
Culms 6/—2° tall, tufted, erect, or decumbent at the 
base, smooth and glabrous. Sheaths loose, overlap- 
ping and often short and crowded at the base of the 
culm, glabrous or sometimes sparingly villous; ligule 
very short; leaves 3/-12’ long, 1’’—3’’ wide, smooth or 
scabrous; spikes 2-10, 1/-3’ long, whorled or approxi- 
mate at the summit of the culm or one or two some- 
times distant; spikelets 3-6-flowered, 114//-2’/ long; 
scales acute, minutely scabrous on the keel, the first 
I-nerved, the second 3-7-nerved, the others 3—5-nerved. 
In fields, dooryards and waste places all over North 
America except the extreme north. Naturalized from the 
warmer regions of the Old World. June-Sept. 
