GRAMINACE^E. 



435 



feet, and surrounded by a tuft of hairs. Palese very unequal ; 

 the lower one elongated, acuminate; the upper 2 -keeled. 

 Panicle terminal, very large. 



P. communis Trin.i panicle loose, 1 -sided; spikelets 3 5-flowered. 

 Arundo Phragmites Linn. 



Margins of swamps and ponds. Can. to Geor. W. to Miss. Aug. Ij.. Culm 

 9 12 feet high, very leafy, with numerous joints. Leaves 1 2 feet long, linear- 

 lanceolate, flat, glaucous, rough on the margin. Panicle terminal, very large, 

 loose, somewhat nodding. The largest grass in the Northern States ; and at a 

 distance somewhat resembling Broom-corn. Common Reed-grass. 



VII. CHLOREJE. Spikelets arranged in unilateral digitate or pan- 

 iculate (rarely solitary} spikes, 1- many-jlowered ; upper flowers imper- 

 fect. Glumes and palea 2, membranaceously herbaceous ; the latter 

 often awned. Rachis not articulated. 



26. CYNODON. Rich. Dog's-tooth Grass. 

 (From the Greek KVOJV, a dog, and o<5ot>f, a tooth.) 



Spikelets filiform, unilateral, with one perfect flower and one 

 abortive rudiment. Glumes membranaceous, persistent, shorter 

 than the flower and only embracing it at the base. Fertile 

 flower with the upper palea bifid- toothed. Rudiment minute, 

 pedicellate. Caryopsis loose, not furrowed. Spikes digitate or 

 racemose. 



C. Dactylon Pers. : culm creeping ; spikes digitate, 3 5, spreading ; 

 glume with the keel scabrous ; paleae smooth, longer than the glume, the 

 lower one with a bristle at the base. Digitaria Dactylon Muhl. 



Sandy soils. Penn. to Geor. July, Aug. 7J.. Culm a foot or more long, 

 prostrate. Leaves narrow, somewhat distichous, hairy on the margin and near 

 the base. Stigmas dark purple. Introduced. Creeping Dog's-tooth Grass. 



27. ELEUSINE. Gcert. Dog's-tail Grass. 



(EAcwffivta was one of the names of Ceres, the goddess of harvests ; probably 

 from Eleusis, where she was worsliipped.) 



Spikelets sessile, 2 6-flowered. Glumes unequal, shorter 

 than the flowers. Palese unequal, awnless ; the lower keeled ; 

 upper shorter, channelled on the back. Caryopsis triangular- 

 ovoid, transversely rugose. Spikes digitate, unilateral. 



E. Indica Gcert. : culm oblique, compressed ; leaves smooth ; spikes 2 4, 

 linear, straight j spikelets closely imbricate, lanceolate, about 5-flowered. 

 Cynosufus Indicus Linn. 



disticho_, , r , 



ably introduced. Dog's-tail Grass. Wire-grass. 



