GRASSES OF IOWA. 



95 



DESCRIPl [ON. 



Spikelets solitary or 2-3 to- 

 gether, subtended by an invo- 

 lucre of one to many bristles, 

 which are often plumose and 

 fall off with the spikelets at 

 maturity ; inflorescence race- 

 mose, or dense and spike-like. 

 Glumes 4; the first empty and 

 smaller than the others; the sec- 

 ond usually as long as the spike- 

 let, empty; the third empty, or 

 with a palea or a staminate 

 (lower; the fourth, or terminal, 

 inclosing a pistillate or hermaph- 

 rodite flower and palea. Sta- 

 mens 3. Styles distinct or more 

 or less connate below ; stigmas 

 plumose. Grain included in the 

 rigid fruiting glume and palea, 

 free. Annual or perennial 

 grasses, with simple or branched 

 culms; flat leaves, with usually 

 spike-like panicles terminal on 

 the culms or its branches. 



About 40 species, chiefly na- 

 tive to the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions of the Old and 

 New Worlds. Some 12 species 

 native to Mexico and Central 

 America. Eight species are re- 

 corded for the United States. 

 Pennisetum setosum is native to 

 Florida and Mexico. One 

 species, Pennisetum typhoideum 

 is grown under the name of 

 Pearl Millet and has been cul- 

 tivated of late years in Iowa. 

 The Pennisetum \ongistylum of Abyssinia is sometimes cultivated 

 as an ornamental grass. 



Fig. 67. Pennisetum typhoideum. After 

 Hackel. 



