844 GRAMINEiB, (GRASS FAMILY.) 



hirtulous or glabrous ; pales of fertile flower oblong, as long as neutral 

 pale — Summer — Fields and waste places ; common throughout. 



* * SpiMets hairy y solita/ry, irregularly panicled. Lower glume often 0. 



Pales oj 2^istillate fi)wer coriaceous. 



2. P. Teneriffae, L. If .3 to .6; root-stock indurated; culms 

 branching at base, ascending. Leaves glaucescent, linear, rigid, 

 convolute in drying, hairy at mouth of sheath. Panicle .08 to .1 long, 

 spreading in flower, contracted in fruit, branches capillary, flexuous; 

 spikelets oblong, long-pedicelled ; lower glume obsolete, upper similar 

 to lower pale of staminate floweret, membranous, ovate-lanceolate, be- 

 set with long hairs ; upper pale of staminate floweret glabrous, narrower, 

 more obtuse ; fertile floweret much shorter than glume, pales oblong, 

 coriaceous, glossy — April to August — Dry, stony places ; el-'Arabah 

 from Sea of Galilee to Dead Sea, and southward to Sinai and Egypt. 



* * * Spikelets in 4 rows or ^irregularly arranged on secondary spiTce-lihe 

 branches of the panicle. Lower pale of staminate flower often aristate. 



3. P. Cru§ Oalli, L. © Dhuneib. .5 to 1; culm simple or 

 branching at neck. Leaves linear, .005 to .01 broad, flat, acuminate. 

 Panicle terminal, contracted, .07 to .2 long; spikes sessile or short- 

 peduncled, simple or somewhat compound, linear, erect, .03 to .04 long, 

 usually solitary ; axis of panicle at insertion of spikes and of spikes at 

 insertion of spikelets bearded; spikelets nearly in 4 rows, hispid or 

 scabrous, short-pedicelled oblong-ovate, acute; lower glume one-third 

 as long as upper, muticous, upper as long as perfect floweret or longer, 

 more or less mucronate-aristate, ciliate at nerves and margins ; lower 

 pale of lower (neutral rarely staminate) floweret similar to upper glume, 

 but produced into a longer beard ; pales of fertile floweret ovate, acute, 

 glossy-white — Summer — Fields ; common. 



Var. ecliinatnm, Boiss. Lower pale of neutral floweret with a 

 very long awn — Common. 



4. P. eolonum, L. © Abu-er-RuMb. .3 to .4; culm simple or 

 branching from base, often rooting at geniculate lower joints. Leaves 

 erect, flat, linear-acuminate, scabrous. Panicle terminal, .OSto.l long, 

 tJiyrsoidy composed of simple, sessile, ascending or erect, simple, alter- 

 nate or nearly opposite, oblong spikes, .01 to .02 long; axis of panicle 

 at the insertion of lower spikes sometimes hairy ; spikelets in 4 rows, 

 on a rough axis, short-pedicelled, ovate-oblong, acute; glumes and piales 

 non-aristate, the former rough with short hairs at nerves and margins, 

 acute, the lower cordate, half as long as upper, which is as long as 

 the staminate floweret ; pales of fertile floweret as long as upper glume, 

 white, coriaceous, acute — Summer — Fields ; common from coast to 

 middle mountain region ; Ghor-es-Safieh. 



* * * * Spikelets two-ranked, on the spike-like, one-sided, appressed branches 



of a simple^ terminal panicle. Pales not aristate. 



5. P. eruciforme, S. et S. © .4; tufted; culms branched and 

 geniculate below, ascending. Sheaths and leaves soft-pubescent, the 

 latter lanceolate-linear, .03 long, .003 to .004 broad. Spikes linear, 

 solitary, .01 long, short-peduncled, appressed to axis, forming a spike- 

 like panicle, .06 long; spikelets crowded, short-pedicelled, ovate; 

 lower glume small or obsolete, upper glume and lower pale of neutral 

 floweret alike, ovate, acutish, 5 -nerved, hirtulous ; upper pale of neutral 



