60 Botanical Section [PT i 



so afterwards. Blade rolled in the shoot, rather thin, broadest 

 just above its base; acuminate above, and forming rounded 

 collar-like ledges below where it joins the sheath; both surfaces 

 dull. Ribs on upper surface low, flat and broad. Ligule variable 

 in length, but always blunt. There is no keel to the sheath but 

 a slight one is present on the lower half of the blade. No auricles. 



Fig. 42. Plants of Air a flexuosa (left) and Air a caryophyllea (right). About 

 J nat. size. N.B. The photograph is of specimens which had been dried, and 

 the bent condition of A. flexuosa is unnatural. 



Flowers in April and May; culms smooth, 1 to 3 feet high; 

 panicle cylindrical, spike-like, 1-3 inches long. Spikelets on very 

 short branches, one-flowered, ovate. Flowers proterogynous. 



The "seeds" consist of the entire ripened spikelets. Empty 



