356 GRASS FAMILY. 



viz. HiERocHLOA roreXlis, Seneca or Holy-Grass, being rare) : low, 

 slender, soft and smooth ; the pale brown or greenish spikelets crowded in an 

 evident spike-like panicle ; each composed of a pair of thin very unequal glumes, 

 above and within these a pair of obcordate or 2-lobed hairy empty palets, one 

 with a bent awn from near its base, the other with a shorter awn higher up ; 

 above and within these a pair of very small smooth and roundish palets, of 

 parchment-like texture, enclosing 2 stamens and the 2-styled pistil, finally in- 

 vesting the grain. 11 



Alopecurus prat6nsis, Meadow Foxtail. Introduced from Europe 

 abundantly into meadows E. : flowering in spring ; stem about 2° high, bearing 

 few pale soft leaves, terminated by a cylindrical soft and dense spike, or what 

 seems to be so, for the spikelets are really borne on short side branches, not on 

 the main axis ; these spikelets very flat contrary to the glumes, which are con- 

 duplicate, united by their edges towards the base, keeled, fringed-ciliate on the 

 keel; these enclose a single conduplicate lower palet (the upper one wholly 

 wanting) which bears a long awn from below the middle of the back, and sur- 

 rounds 3 stamens and the pistil. 



» * Awn, if any, from the apex of the glumes or palets. 



■•- Spikelets dense! i/ crowded in a long perfectly cylindrical apparent spike, each spike- 

 let strictly l-floivered : glumes 2, keeltdand nearly conduplicate, awn-pointed, 

 much larger and offrmer texture than the thin and truncate awnless palets. 



Phleum pratense, Cat-tail Grass, Timothy, or Herd's Grass; 



introduced from Eu. ; a coarse hut most valuable meadow gi'ass, 2° -4° high, 

 with green roughish spike 3'- 8' long; the small spikelets are crowded on very 

 short branches, and therefore the seeming spike is not a true one. 21 



+- -I- Spikelets strictly spiked all on one side of a flattened jointless rhachis, much 

 crowded : the 2-5 spikes digitate, i. e. all on the apex of the flowering stem : 

 palets awnless. Finger-grass might be sought here ; see Panicum below. 



++ Flower only one to each spikdel, and a mere rudiment beyond it, awnless. 



C^nodon D^ctylon, Bermuda or ScnTCH Grass. An introduced weed 

 chiefly S., Avhere it is useful in sandy soil, where a better grass is not to 

 be had ; creeping extensively, the rigid creeping stems with short flattish 

 leaves and sending up flowering shoots a few inches high, bearing the 3-5 slender 

 spikes. 2/ 



++ ++ Flowers 3-5 or more in each spikelet, the uppermost generally imperfect : 

 seed loose, proportionally large, rough-wrinkled. (T) 



Eleusine Indiea, Crab-Grass, Yard-Grass, Dog's-tail, or Wire- 

 Grass. Introduced only in yards or lawns N., more abundant S., where it is 

 valuable for cattle ; low, spreading over the ground, pale ; glumes and palets 

 pointless. 



Dactyloctdnium -SJgypti&eum, Egyptian Grass. Yards and fields, 

 chiefly a weed, S. : creeping over the ground, low ; spikes dense and thickish ; 

 glumes flattened laterally and keeled, one of them awn-pointed, the strongly 

 keeled boat-shaped lower palet also pointed. 



-t- •<- H- Spikelets spiked alternately on opposite sides of a zigzag jointed rhachis. 

 ++ Glume only one to the solitary spikelet, which starids edgewise. 



Ldlium per6nne, Darnel, Rye-Grass, or Ray Grass. Introduced 

 from Europe : a good pasture-grass, l°-2° high, with loose spike 5' -6' long, 

 of 12 or more a'lout 7-flowered spikelets placed edgewise, so that one row of 

 flowers is next the glume, the other next the rhachis ; lower palet short-awned 

 or awnless. 



*+ Glumes a pair to the single spikelet, right and left at each joint of the rhachis. 



Triticum r6pens, Couch-Grass, Quitch or Quick-Grass, &c., belongs 

 to the section with perennial roots ; this spreads amazingly by its vigorous 

 long running rootstocks, is a pest in cultivated fields, and is too coarse and 



