176 



57. GRAMINE^. 



24. Arundo, L. 



1. Arundo Donax, L. Giant Beed, popularly Bam- 

 hoo. Perennial 2-5 m. (6-15 ft.) high, Avith long creeping 

 roots and hollow, woody steni.s thicker than the thumb; 

 leaves broad, smooth or with rough-ciliate edges; ligule 

 short, ciliate; panicle 40-60 cm. (1-2 ft.) long, oblong, dense, 

 Avhitish-green or violet; spikelets with 3-4 flowers and long 

 white hairs on the axis between 

 them ; outer glumes 2, equal, as 

 long as the flowers ; flowering 

 glume trifid, with long hairs ; 

 palea much shorter. 



Cultivated for ornament and 

 spontaneous in places ; flowers 

 rarely. — Feb. -Mar. — Moist sandy 

 places of the Mediterranean 

 region; known as Canne de 

 Provence in France. 



.4. Phrag mites, L. (Common 

 Reed), a cosmopolitan plant and 

 a native of South Australia, 

 grows freely along the banks of 

 the Torrens and of other streams. 

 It differs from the preceding in 

 its slighter and fragile stems ; 

 the outer glumes unequal and 

 shorter than the flowers. 



25. A VENA, L. 



Spikelets compressed laterally, 

 with 2-3 flowers, all stalked ; 

 outer glumes 2, large, persistant, 



membranous, 7-9-norved ; flowering glume stiff, convex, 

 6-nerved, bifid, with a long bent and twi.sted awn rising 

 from its back; grain downy at top, oblong. 



Flowering glvime covered with long, silky 

 hairs in its lower half; flowers jointed 

 on the axis of the spikelot. ' 



Flowering glume shortly bifid 



Flowering glume with 2 long bristles 

 Flowering glume glabrous ; flowers not 



jointed on the axis of the spikelet ... .1. sativa 3 



1. Avena. fatua, L. Wild Oat. Annual with 

 flat leaves and a loose, pyramidal panicle; spikelets large, 

 very open, drooping frcmi long, filiform pedicels, with 2-3 

 flowers, all, or tne 2 lower ones, awned ; axis villous; outer 

 glumes subequal, longer than the flowers; flowering glume 

 golden-brown, covered with long hairs, rarely subglabrous, 

 shortly bifid .so a,s to end in 2 fine teeth ; awn twice as 

 long as the spikelet. 



Arundo Donax. 



.1. 

 .1. 



fatua 1 

 htirhnta 



