GRAMIXEAE 



363 



each about half an Inch in length, and containing 6 or 8 gpikekts, which are ar- 

 ranged in two rows on the under side of the spreading or reflected rachis. Perfect 

 florets sessile; anthers bright red. 

 Hob. Dry banks ; Serpentine rocks : not common. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. This remarkable, and rather pretty grass, seems to be 

 almost entirely restricted to Serpentine rocks, in Chester County. 

 It has but little agricultural value. 



3. Spikelets several-flowered; pericarp loose, like a utricle. 



. ,, Gaertner. 



[From Eleusis; where Ceres, the Goddess of harvests, was worshipped.] 

 Spikelets 2- to 6-flowered, with a terminal naked rudiment, closely 

 imbricate-spiked on one side of & flatfish rachis, the spikes digitate 

 or fascicled. Glumes unequal, shorter than the florets, keeled, 

 pointless. Paleae membranaceous, awnless, the lower one ovate, 

 keeled, the upper one smaller, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Pericarp 

 thin and membranaceous, loose on the transversely rugose seed. 

 Annual : culms low and spreading ; spikes 2 to &, or 6 (rarely soli- 

 tary), pale green. 



1. E. Indica, Gaertner. Culms branched at base, ascending, com- 

 pressed ; spikelets lance-ovate, about 5-flowered. 

 INDIAN ELEUSINB. Dog's-tail Grass. 



Culms 6 to 12 or 18 inches long, oblique, or nearly procumbent, smooth. Leaves 

 2 to 12 inches long, rather crowded at the base of the culm, linear ; sheaths loose, 

 pilose at the throat. Spikes 1 or 2 to 4 inches in length, smooth. Grain trian- 

 gular-ovoid, dark brown. 

 Hob. Farm-yards, &e. Nat. of India. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. This is extensively naturalized, here, and in the latter 

 part of summer, makes a fine green carpeting for yards, and lanes, 

 that had been previously naked and muddy. Cattle and hogs are 

 fond of feeding on it. 



TRIBE 4. FESTUCIN'EAE.l 



Spikdets several- (few- to many-) flowered, often with the uppermost (rarely the 

 lowest) floret imperfect, or abortive, usually disposed in open panicles ; paleae 

 pointless, or the lower one sometimes tiptwith a straight awn, or bristle; stamens 

 Itu3; scoZes2. 



1. Grain free in the paleae, and smooth. 

 A. Lowest floret of the spikelet imperfect. 



480. PIIR iC;>II TES, Trinius. 

 [Gr. Phragmos, a partition, or hedge ; from its alleged use, as such.] 

 Spikelets lance-linear, 3- to 5- or 7-flowered ; florets rather distant, 

 on conspicuously silky-bearded pedicels, all perfect and triandrous, 

 except the lowest, which is sessile, and either neutral, or monandrous, 

 and naked at base. Glumes shorter than the florets, very unequal, 

 keeled, paleae slender, unequal, the lower one much longer, with a 

 long involute awn-like acumination. Perennials : culm simple, tall 

 and stout; leaves broad; panicle terminal, large. 



