154 



THE TRUE GRASSES. 



cles diffuse or contracted ; spikelets narrow, pointed, 

 awnless. Perennial grasses with apparently nodeless 

 culms. 



Species one (31. cceridea Monch), with violet-colored 

 panicles and rigid leaves, grows in wet meadows in 

 Central Europe and temperate Asia. A poor grass for 

 fodder. [Sparingly introduced into North America.] 



223. (230) • Eragrostis Host. (Fig. 

 79). Panicles various, generally open. 

 Spikelets usually densely in any- 

 flowered ; flowering glumes awnless, 

 or at most mucronate-pointed, keeled; 

 grain globose or ovate, unfurrowed. 



Species about one hundred, distrib- 

 uted throughout all warm countries. 



Sec. I. Cataclastos. Racbilla articu- 

 late ; spikelets small ; flowering glumes 

 membranaceous. E. ciliaris Link 

 in the Southern United States and 

 throughout all tropical countries. 

 Macroblepharus Philippi also belongs 

 here. 



Sec. II. Petro'essa (Megastachya 



Beauv.). Rachilla and usually also 



«,°Kachina'wiUi the palese remaining after the fruit and 



Most 

 of the species belong here. E. Aby.s- 

 sinica Link, is an important food-plant in Abyssinia. 

 The various colored seeds have the appearance of grits, 

 and the flour made from these is baked into bread. 

 This grass is probably a cultivated form of E. pilo.su 

 Beauv. Many species (e.g., E. Mexicana Link) are culti- 

 vated for ornament. [E. oxyl&pis of the Southwestern 

 United States, is a particularly showy species.] 



Sec. III. Myriostachya. Like the preceding, but with 

 long-awned empty glumes. 

 Species one. 



Sec. IV. Platystachya. Kachilla articulate ; spikelets 

 large ; flowering glumes coriaceous. 



224. (231) Ipnum Philippi. Spikes short, standing 



Fig 79.- 

 Host. 



paleae. 

 Gen. G 

 Reiclib., Ic. 164.) 



3ernt ft L ssf^nd flowering glumes have fallen. 



