GRASS FAMILY. 357 



hard for a meadow grass : of many varieties, introduced from Europe ; spikelets 

 4 - 8-flowered ; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. If. 



T. vulg^re, Wheat. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided ; the spikelets 

 crowded, 4 - 5-flowered, turgid ; glumes ventricose, blunt ; palet either awned 

 or awnless ; grain free. ® 



T. Spelta, Spelt. A grain rarely cult, in this country; spike flat, the 

 rhachis fragile, breaking up at the joints ; grain enclosed in the palets. (i) 



SecMe cere^le, Rve. Tall ; spike as in wheat ; spikelets with only 2 per- 

 fect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bxistly towards the base ; lower palet ven- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. 



■<- -t- -1- Glumes 6 at each joint, in front of the 3 spikelets, formin(] an involucre. 



Hordeum VUlg^re, Common Barley, from the Old World : spike 

 dense, the 3 spikelets at each joint of the rhachis all with a fertile flower, its 

 lower palet long-awned. ® 



H. distichum, Two-rowed Barley, from Tartary : only one spikelet 

 at each joint of the rhachis with a fertile flower, the two lateral spikelets being 

 reduced to sterile rudiments, the flowers therefore two-rowed in the spike. ® 



-t- -t- -1- -t- Spikelets in a contracted panicle or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 tchat on. one side of the rhachis : each with a sinqle perfect flower, its palets 

 of coriaceous or cartilaginous texture : by the side of it are either one or two 

 thin palets of a sterile usuallij neutral flower . 



Setaria, Foxtail-Grass. Spikelets in clusters on the branches of the 

 contracted spike-like panicle or seeming spike, these continued beyond them 

 into awn-likc rough bristles ; but no awns from the spikelets themselves. 

 Weeds, or the last one cult. ; all from Old World ; fl. late summer. (T) 



S. glatica, CoMMOX Foxtail : in all stubble and cultivated grounds ; low ; 

 spike tawny yellow, dense ; long bristles 6-11 in a cluster, rough upwards (as 

 also all the following) ; palets of perfect flower wrinkled ci'osswise. 



S. viridis, Green Foxtail or Bottle-Grass ; has less dense and green 

 spike, fewer bristles, and palets of perfect flower striate lengthwise. 



S. Italica, or Germanica, Italian Millet, Bengal Grass, &c. Cult, 

 for fodder, 3' - 5' high, with rather large leaves, a compound or interrupted so- 

 called spike, which is evidently a contracted panicle, sometimes 6' - 9' long and 

 nodding when ripe ; bristles short and few in a cluster ; palets of the fertile 

 flower smooth. 



Panicum (Digit^ria) sanguin^le, Finger-Grass or Crab-Grass. 

 Chiefly a weed in cult, fields in late summer and autumn, but useful in thin 

 grounds S. for hay; herbage reddish; spikes 4-1.5, slender, digitate, nearly 

 1-sided ; spikelets seemingly 1-flowered with 3 glumes ; no awns. (T) 



P. Crus-galli, Cock's-foot P., or Barnyard-Grass. Common weedy 

 grass, of moist barnyards and low rich grounds : coarse, with rather broad leaves, 

 and numerous seeming spikes along the naked summit of the flowering stems, 

 often forming a sort of panicle ; spikelets containing one fertile and one sterile 

 flower, the lower palet of the latter bearing a coarse rough awn. (l) 



P capillkre, Witch Grass of stubble and corn-fields in autumn, having 

 a very open capillary panicle, would be sought under another division ; it is a 

 mere weed. ® 



B. Stems not hollow, pithy. 



§ 1. Spikelets clustered or scattereil in an ample panicle, each with one perfect and 

 one neutral or stuminate flower. 



* Without sitkif-down : glumes, <J-c. russet-brown, coriaceous. 



Sdrghum VUlg^re, Indian Millet, DuRRA,or Doitra, Slc, from Africa 

 or India; the var. ceknuum, Guinea Corn, has densely contracted panicle, 

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. sacciiarXtum, Sweet Sorghum, Chinese 

 Sugar-Cane, Imphee, &c., cult, for the syrup of the stem; and Broom-corn, 

 for the well-known corn-brooms. ® 



