LEPTOCHLOA. 161 



containing a loose, oval, and wrinkled seed. Low 

 annuals, with flat leaves, and flowers much as in 

 Poa. 



Name from Eleiisin^ the town wdiere Ceres, the 

 goddess of harvests, was worshipped. 



1. E. Indica (Crab Grass, Wire Grass, Crowsfoot). 

 A useful grass in Mississippi, Alabama, and adjoin- 

 ing States ; growing luxuriantly, and is j)lowed 

 down as a fertilizer — also serving as a hay and for 

 pasturage. 



24. LEPTOCHLOA -Beau V. Oxyde^ia, Slender 



Grass. 



gein^eric character. 



Spikelets 3 — many-flowered (the uppermost flower 

 imjDerfect), loosely spiked on one side of a long fili- 

 form rhachis ; the spikes racemed. Glumes membra- 

 naceous, keeled, and often awl-pointed, the upper 

 one somewhat larger. Lower palet 3-nerved, with the 

 lateral nerves next the ciliate or hairy margins awn- 

 less, or bristle-awned at the entire or 2-toothed tip, 

 larger than the upper. Stamens 2 or 3. Seed some- 

 times loose in the pericarp. Ours annuals. Leaves 

 flat. 



Name composed of leptos^ slender, and cJiloa, 

 grass, from the long, attenuated spikes. 



Gray. 



1. L. Mucronata (Pointed Slender Grass). Found 

 in flelds from Virginia to Illinois and southward. An 



