154 GRASSES OF BRITAIN. 



ECHINOCHLOA CrUS-GALLI. 



Loose Panick- Grass. 

 Plate LXVII. 



Specific Character. — Sheaths smooth. 



Description. — Root annual, fibrous, producing several stems from 

 one to two feet in length. Stems erect, smooth, hollow, and striated, 

 bearing three or four leaves with smooth, striated sheaths ; the up- 

 per sheath situated generally close under the panicle, inflated and 

 about equal in length to its leaf. Ligule wanting, a whitish conical 

 mark in place of it. Joints usually three, the upp. r situated above 

 the middle of the stem, and mostly but not invariably covered by the 

 second sheath. Leaves broad, pointed, frequently rough on the in- 

 ner surface, smooth behind, the margins whitish and strongly tooth- 

 ed ; the central rib very conspicuous, especially on the lower half. 

 Lnfiorescence compound panicled, close, secund, the branches rough, 

 rachis angular. Spikelets nearly sessile, arranged in clusters, mostly 

 of threes, and at the base of each arise two or three long, white, 

 smooth hairs or bristles ; each spikelet composed of two glumes and 

 two florets, one of the florets neutral. Glumes very unequal, the 

 outer much the smaller, not one-fifth the size of the inner glume ; in- 

 ner glume three-ribbed, furnished with bristles, terminating in an 

 awn very various in length. Lowermost floret barren, of two flattish 

 palese, the outer three-ribbed, covered with bristles and tipped with 

 a rough awn, which is frequently abortive ; inner palea about the 

 length of the outer, very thin and transparent, placed close to the 

 back of the inner palea of the second floret. Second or upper floret 

 fertile, of two palese, the outer smooth, polished, tipped with a little 

 point, which is occasionally downy; inner palea flattish, equal in 

 length to the outer, folded at the margins and terminating in a small 

 roughish point. Styles two, long and smooth, arising from the sum- 

 mit of the ovarium. Stigmas short and feathery. Filaments three, 

 slender. Anthers short, cloven at each extremity. 



EcJdnocJdoa Crus-r/alli, Beauv., Babiiigton. Panicum Crus-fjaUi, Linn., Smith, 

 Hooker, Lindley, Koch. Oplismein^s Crus-(jalli, Kunth. 



