870 



GRAMINEiE. (GRASS FAMILY. ) 



Spike of Yentetiata 

 macra. 



1. V. Blaiicliei, Boiss. .3 to .5. Pan- Fig. 304. 

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

 branches somewhat whorled, capillary, scabrous; 

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

 branches, glumes lanceolate, long-acuminate, sca- 

 brous at prominent nerves, the lower one-thii'd 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. 



* * SpiMeis slwrt-jjcdicelled, spihed^ S-Q-Jlowered. 



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

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

 .01 to .015 long, .003 thick, fusiform; glumes ob- 

 long-lanceolate, acute, nearly equal, glabrous; 

 pales of upper flowerets 3-dentate, awn twisted, 

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

 Antilebanon; Dimas. 



43. AVEl^A, L. Oat. Sheifun. 



Spikelets flattened or terete, 3-oo -flowered, 

 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. 



* Spilcelets at length pendulous. Panicle loose. Annuals. 



t Flowerets not jointed with axis, falling loith it in one piece. 



1. A. Oricntalis, 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, not tioisted below — May 

 and June — ReifCin; Feitrun (Lebanon). 



1 1 Loicer floweret only jointed with axis, the upper falling with segment 

 of axis in one piece. 



2. A. stcrilis, L. Khofur. Sheifun. .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 Iroad callosity and ovate 

 scar at base, lifid at tip lut teeth not aioned, dorsal awn twice to twice 

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

 and olive groves; common. 



1 1 f All the flowerets jointed with axis, falling separately. 



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

 flowered, the lower glume half as long as upp^er ; lower pale of lower 

 floweret glabrous at bach, with a linear callosity and linear scar at base. 



