154 



GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



1.5-6 dm. high ; sheaths overlapping ; blades often conspicuously distichous, 

 rigidly ascending ; the narrow panicle 2-6 cm. long (rarely longer) ; spikelets 

 8-18 mm. long, the florets closely imbricated. (D. maritima Raf.) Salt 

 marshes along the coast, N. S. to Tex.; also in alkaline soil in the interior. 

 (Mex.) FIG. 160. 



69. BRIZA L. QUAKING GRASS 



Spikelets few-several-flowered, broad, often heart-shaped ; florets crowded, 

 almost horizontal, the uppermost usually imperfect ; glumes subequal, firm-inem- 

 branaceous, with broad scarious margins ; lemmas 5-many-nerved (nerves 

 often obscure), firm, subchartaceous with a scarious margin, boat-shaped or ven- 

 trieose, heart-shaped at base ; palea much smaller than its lemma. Annuals or 

 perennials with flat leaves and showy terminal panicles. 

 (Bp/fa, the Greek name of a kind of grain.) 



1. B. MEDIA L. Perennial, erect, 4-7 dm. high ; sheaths 

 longer than the narrow blades; panicle erect, the stiff capil- 

 lary branches spreading ; spikelets nodding, 5-9-flowered, 

 6 mm. long, nearly as broad, brown and shining ; lemmas 

 boat-shaped. Fields and waste places, Ont. and N. E. June. 



161. B. m ed,axl%. (Ady jJ u } p ^ ]6] 



ret - 2. B. MINOR L. Annual; culms 1-4 dm. high, often 

 branching at the base; leaves 4-12 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide; panicle erect, its 

 slender branches finally spreading, bearing fascicled branchlets ; spikelets hardly 

 nodding, 3-6-flowered, pale or plum-color, broadly heart-shaped, 3 mm. long, 

 slightly broader ; lemmas strongly ventricose below. Waste places, N. J., Va., 

 and southw. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



70. DACTYLIS L. ORCHARD GRASS 



Spikelets 2-6-flowered, compressed, nearly sessile in dense fascicles, these 

 arranged in a panicle ; glumes unequal, hispid-ciliate on the keel, acute or 

 mucronate ; lemmas 5-nerved, ciliate-keeled, short awn-pointed ; paleas a little 

 shorter than their lemmas. Perennial with flat leaves and 

 glomerate panicles. (Dactylos, a name used by Pliny for a 

 grass with digitate spikes, from SdicTvXoi, a finger.) 



1. D. GLOMERATA L. Coarse, tufted, glaucous, scabrous ; 

 culms erect, 9-12 din. high; leaves broadly linear; panicle 

 8-15 cm. long, the few stiff branches naked below, contracted 

 after flowering ; spikelets crowded in dense one-sided clus- 

 ters at the ends of the branches. Fields and waste places. 162. D. glomerata x 3. 

 June. (Nat. from Eu. ) FIG. 162. Spikelet displayed. 



CYNOSURES CRISTA.TCS L. (DOG'S-TAIL GRASS), a slender erect perennial 

 4-7 dm. high, with narrow leaves and erect dense spike-like panicles, the spike- 

 lets unisexual, arranged in clusters, the terminal ones fertile, the lower larger 

 and sterile, with very narrow lemmas, strongly scabrous on the keel, occurs 

 sparingly in fields and by waysides, Nfd. to Ont. (Adv. from Eu.) 



71. PdA L. MEADOW GRASS. SPBAR GRASS 



Spikelets 2-6-flowered, the uppermost floret imperfect or rudimentary ; 

 glumes 1-3-nerved, keeled ; lemmas herbaceous or inembranaceous, mostly 

 scarious-tipped, acute or obtuse, keeled, awnless, 5-nfrved (the intermediate 

 pair of nerves sometimes very obscure), the dorsal or marginal nerves usually 

 soft-hairy, often with a tuft of long cobwebby hairs at the base ; palea 2-toothed. 

 Annuals or perennials, with simple culms, narrow usually flat leaves ending 

 in a cucullate point, and terminal panicles. (II6o, an ancient Greek name foi 

 grass or fodder. ) 



