S70 



GRAMINEiE. (GRASS ' FAMILY. ) 



1. V. Blancliei, Boiss. .2 to .5. Pan- 

 icle oblong, .06 to .15 long, .03 to .05 broad, 

 branches somewhat whorled, capillary, scabrous; 

 pedicels club-shaped, short; spikelets 2-3 at end of 

 branches, glumes lanceolate, long-acuminate, sca- 

 brous at prominent nerves, the lower one-third as 

 long as upper; lower pale of fertile floweret lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, 2-keeled, with short bristles at tip, 

 awn twice as long as pale — May and June — Mid- 

 dle to subalpine Lebanon ; Hauran. 



* * Spikelets short-pedicelled, spiked, d-Q-Jlowered. 



2. V. macra, Stev. .3 to .7. Spikes .05 

 to .08 loDg, .006 thick, excluding awns; spikelets 

 .01 to .015 long, .002 thick, fusiform; glumes ob- 

 long-lanceolate, acute, nearly equal, glabrous; 

 pales of upper flowerets 2-dentate, awn twisted, 

 once and a half to twice as long as pale — AjDril - 

 Antilebanon; Dimas. 



43. AVENA, L. Oat. Shelf un. 



^ r, 1 Spike of Yenlenata 



Spikelets flattened or terete, 2-oo -nowered, macra. 



panicled, the flowerets usually firmer in texture than the glumes, per- 

 fect, the uppermost often sterile. Glumes concave, herbaceous ; lower 

 pale of perfect flowerets concave, more or less chartaceous, often rolled 

 up in fruit, bifid at apex, with a long, straight, or bent and twisted, 

 dorsal awn, upper pale 2-keeled, flat, 2- toothed. Stamens 3. Caryopsis 

 spindle-shaped, hairy toward tip, grooved on one side, free from but 

 invested by the upper pale. Pales of sterile flowerets muticous — Herbs, 

 with large spikelets, usually on long peduncles, panicled. 



* Spikelets at length pendulous. Panicle loose. Annuals. 

 t Flowerets not jointed with axis, falling %oith it in o^ie piece. 



1. A. Orientalis, Schreb. .5 to .8. Panicle contracted, 

 one-sided ; spikelets 2-flowered ; glumes acuminate, longer than flow- 

 erets; axis glabrous, or hairy at the base of lower floweret; lower 

 floweret sessile, both aristate or the upper muticous; lower pale bi- 

 denticulate at tip, awn straight or flexuous, 7iot twisted below — May 

 and June — ReifCin; FeitrOn (Lebanon). 



1 1 Lower floweret only jointed tcith axis, the 'up)p)er falling ivith segment 

 of axis in one piece. 



2. A. sterili§, L. Khafur. Sheifiui. .4 to .8, glabrous. 

 Spikelets large, 3-4-flowered, two or rarely three of the flowerets aristate 

 and bristly from base to middle, the upper one or two glabrous and 

 muticous ; lower pale of lower floweret with a broad callosity and ovate 

 scar at base, bifid at tip but teeth not awned, dorsal awm twice to twice 

 and a half as long as glumes — April to June — Fields, vineyards, 

 and olive groves ; common. 



tit All the flowerets jointed toith axis, falling separately. 



3. A. elaucla, Dur. .5 to .8, sparingly hairy. Spikelets 3-4- 

 flowered, the lower glume half as long as upjp)er ; lower pale of lower 

 floweret glabrous at back, with a linear callosity and U?iear scar at base> 



