150 
Flowering glume broader, boat-shaped, with a prominent keel. 
Palea narrow or rather broad, the two nerves prominent, distant or 
closely contiguous. 
Grain smooth, enclosed in the glume and palea, but free from them. 
1. Cynodon dactylon, Pers. 
Botanical name.—Cynodon—Greek, Kuon, kunos a dog, odous, 
odontos a tooth, dog’s tooth. This grass is still known in some places 
as “ Dog’s Tooth Grass,” but whether the vernacular name is a trans- 
lation of the botanical one, or the reverse is the case, I do not know. 
Dactylon—Greek, dactulos a finger, in reference to the finger-like 
spikes. 
Vernacular names.—< Couch Grass,” the “ Doub Grass” of India, 
and the “ Bermuda Grass” of the United States; sometimes known as 
* Dog’s Tooth Grass.” 
Where figured.—Hackel, Vasey, Kearney, Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. F1., vii, 609). 
Stems prostrate, often creeping and rooting to a great extent, the flowering branches 
shortly ascending. 
Leaves short, of a glaucous green. 
Spikes two to five, often purplish, 1 to 2 inches long. 
Spikelets sessile, outer glumes narrow, acute, persistent, keeled, under 1 line long. 
Flowering glume rather above 1 line long, broadly boat-shaped, the keel usually 
minutely ciliate. 
Palea narrow. 
Rhachis of the spikelet produced into a point or bristle shorter than the glume, and 
often very minute. 
Var. pulchellus, F.v.M. Flowering glume ciliate on the keel with 
long hairs. Murray River. 
Value as a fodder.—It is a useful pasture grass, stock eating it 
readily. It is the best all-round lawn grass we have, but it isa 
troublesome weed in gardens. It is so widely diffused and so largely 
cultivated that the fact that itis an Australian native is sometimes lost 
sight of. Atthe same time, in many of its situations it has been 
introduced by the hand of man. As O’Shanesy points out: “ Its 
presence is one of the surest signs of settlement.” 
“Tt is by far the most useful of all fodder grasses in India, especially 
for horses. It is perennial, and flowers nearly all the yearround. The 
foliage becomes scanty during the cold weather months, at which time 
it may be said to be at rest. It varies considerably in habit as well as 
in its nutritive qualities, according to the nature of the soil or climate. 
It makes excellent hay, and will keep good for many years in stack.” 
(Duthie.) The Hindoos consider it sacred. 
“ This is undoubtedly, on the whole, the most valuable grass in the 
Southern United States. It is a native of Southern Europe, and of 
all tropical countries. It is a common pasture-grass in the West 
Indies, and the Sandwich Islands, and has long been known in 
the United States, but the difficulty of eradicating it when once 
established has retarded its introduction into cultivation. Its 
yalue, however, is becoming more appreciated now that more attention 
