888 GRAMINEiE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



es sometimes half as long as panicle ; pedicels short, flattened, rough ; 

 glumes linear, setaceous-acuminate, the lower half as long as the upper, 

 which is scarcely shorter than the adjacent fioweret ; lower pale linear- 

 lanceolate, scabrous toward tip or all ever, ending in an awn once and a 

 half to twice its length — May and June — Beit-Meri ; ISTeba'-el-Hadid 

 (Lebanon). 



Var. miisutigluma, Post. Lower glume minute — Hauran. 



3. V. ciliata, Pers. .3. Panicle contracted, oblong, .03 to 

 .07 long, .01 to .015 broad, branches appressed, pedicels short; spike- 

 lets 4:-6-flowered, the lowermost floweret only fertile as a rule ; glumes 

 glabrous, lanceolate-subulate, the lower minute or 0, the upper one- 

 fourth to one-third as long as next pale ; lower pale lanceolate, keeled, 

 mllous-ciliate at hase and margin or all over, ending in an awn about twice 

 its length — Spring — Syrian coast. 



Var. plumosci, Boiss. Spikelets 3-flowered, flowerets spirally ar- 

 ranged ; upper glume minute. Lower pale longer-ciliate — Jebel Nah- 

 has (Aleppo), and eastward. 



4. V. «iiigliimi§, Sol. _0 .3 to A. Upper leaves often near the 

 panicle, and sometimes forming an involucre to it. Panicle oblong, 

 .05 to .08 long, .01 to .03 broad, one-sided, nearly simple, branches 

 short, stifi; pedicels rather long, compressed, thickened from base to 

 tip; spikelets 4-7-flowered ; lower glume minute or 0, upper nmrly as 

 long as adjacent pale, long-awned ; lower pale linear-lanceolate, glabrous 

 at lack, scalrous at leel and margins and tip, ending in a scabrous awn 

 as long as or longer than itself — Spring — Sands; coast. 



* * Pedicels thicTcened ahove ; the lowest floweret of the spiJcelet only fertile, 

 the rest reduced to pales gradually less in size, in 2-ran7cs or spirally 

 crowded in a stipitate cluster. All the lower pales long-aristate. Caryopsis 



rounded at tip. 



5. V. inops, Deh .05 to .15. Panicle ovate to oblong, .03 to 

 .05 long, .006 to .015 broad, dense; branches short, thick; pedicels 

 short, flattened ; glumes equal in length, glabrous or hirsute, the lower 

 subulate, the upper linear-lanceolate, loth ending in a long awn ; lower 

 pale of fertile floweret glabrous or hirsute, its awn with those of the 

 glumes overtopping the awns of the sterile flowerets; upper flowerets of 

 sterile cluster reduced to awns — Spring — Deserts from Sinai to 

 Palmyra. 



* * * SjnJcelets nearly sessile, on node-like pedi- 

 cels, the fertile flowerets numerous. Glumes very 

 unequal, the loicer often obsolete. Lower palemu- 

 cronate-aristate. Caryopsis tapering at lothends. 



6. V. pectinella, Del. Abu-Dhu- 

 neihah, .05 to .3. Panicle spike-like, .02 

 to .03 long, .008 broad, one-sided, simple, 

 or with one or two spreading branches at 

 base; spikelets 2-ranked,,si3reading, oblong, 

 .004 to .006 long, .002 broad, 3-8-flowered; 

 lower glume minute, scale-like, ovate-trian- 

 gular, upper coriaceous, concave, linear, 

 mucronate, convex at back, half as long as 

 adjacent floweret; flowerets loosely racemed 



Fig. 410. 



Spikes of Vulpia pectinella. 



