B56 



GRAMINEiB. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



5. P. nodosa, L. If Qurrdm. Qurreim. .4 to .6; root-stock creep- 

 ing; culms with 1-4, oUofig nodes at hase. Panicle spike-like, .05 to .08 

 long, oblong to cylindrical ; glumes lanceolate, acute, with one nerve 

 on each side of the green keel, and a narrow wing near tip gradually 

 tapering to nothing toward its lase; perfect floweret villous, half as 

 long as glumes ; neuter floweret 1, linear, one-third to one-fourth as long 

 as fertiUjloweret — May to August ~ Fields ; coast to middle zone of 

 mountains, and interior plains. 



* * Glumes wingless. Perennials. 



6. P. aruiidinacea, L. If .6 to 1.3; root-stock creeping; 

 culms stoutish, leafy. Panicle .1 to .25 long, branched, at first some- 

 what spreading, then more contracted ; glumes lanceolate, acuminate, 

 two-nerved on each side and keeled; perfect floweret sparingly hairy, 

 one-half to one-third as long as glumes ; neuter flowerets 2, narrowly 

 linear, less than half as long as fertile, hairy — June — Ditches and 

 banks; Hamath. 



20. Al^THOXANTHUM, L. Vernal Grass. 



Spikelets 3-flowered, the lower two flowerets sterile, the terminal 

 perfect. Glumes 2, the lower half as long as upper, upper 3-nerved, as 

 long as floweret. Sterile flowerets consisting of 1, hirsute, keeled, 2-nerved 

 pale, bifid at tip, the back furnished with a twisted awn. Perfect 

 floicerets : lower pale not awned, rounded, enclosing the 1 -nerved, up- 

 per pale; Iodides 0; stamens 2; styles long — Annual herbs with a 



Fig. 378. 

 L. Sweet Vernal Grass. 

 .2 to .3; root fibrous; stems erect or ascending, 

 slender. Panicle spike-like, lanceolate, fawn-col- 

 ored, .02 to .03 long; glumes lanceolate, cuspidate, 

 glabrous ; sterile pales half as long as upper glume, 



spike-like panicle. 

 A. odoratum, 



the lower with 



awn as long as lower 



glume, the upper with a bent awn longer than up- 

 per glume ; fertile floweret shorter than sterile — 

 April and May — Middle zone of Lebanon. 



21. CRYPSIS, L. Crypsis. 



Fig. 



Spikelet of Aiithoxan- 

 thum odoratum. 4 diam. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, subsessile in hemispherical to oblong heads, 

 on a disk-shaped or short-linear axis. Glumes 2, membranous, nearly 

 equal, somewhat shorter than 

 floweret, with a scabrous keel. 

 Floweret short-stalked between the 

 glumes. Pales similar to glumes, 

 somewhat longer, the lower 1-nerv- 

 ed, the upper 3-nerved. Stamens 

 2. Styles 2, terminal, elongated — 

 Annual, tufted herbs, with heads 

 subtended by an involucre of the 

 dilated sheaths of the upper 2-4 

 leaves. 



C. aculcata, L. © .05 to 



.G ; culms spreading on the surface 



of the ground and formins a flat- 



Ileads of Crypsis aculeata. 



