874 GRAMINB^.. (grass FAMILY.) 



spikelets mostly 2-flowered; glumes shorter than awns, the lower two- 

 thirds as long as upper; lower pale villous-hirsute, obovate, awns 

 straight, twice to twice and a half as long as pale, feathery below, sca- 

 brous above, the alternate 4 a little shorter — April — Ghor-es-Safich. 



51. BOISSIERA, Hochst. Boissiera. 



Spikelets terete, 5-G-flowered, the flowerets closely imbricated 

 along the axis, the lower 2-3 perfect, the rest reduced to a pale. 

 Glumes 2, membranous, many-nerved, somewhat unequal, much shorter 

 than flowerets. Lower pale coriaceous, linear, concave, many-nerved, 

 ending in a hyaline, frayed-dentate tip ; awns 7-9, scabrous, somewhat 

 twisted, dilated at base, inserted at the base of the hyaline tip. Upper 

 pale as long as low^er, but narrower, 2-keeled, 2- piG. 399. 

 toothed — Dwarf annuals, w^ith aspect of Bromus t 



rubens. 



B. bromoides, Hochst. .06 to .15, appres- 

 sed-puberulent; culms solitary or tufted, ascending 

 or erect, often geniculate below, leafy to base of 

 inflorescence. Panicle fasciculate-capitate, obovate, 

 .03 to .04 long; glumes lanceolate, one-third the 

 length of the lowest floweret, acute, the upper some- 

 what longer, sometimes mucronulate; lower pale 11- 

 13-nerved, more or less hirsute below awns, terminal 

 membrane one-fifth as long as pale, the longest awns 

 twice to thrice as long as pale — May to July — Sub- 

 alpine Lebanon; Coelesyria; Autilebanon andHermon; 

 Damascus Plateau ; Syrian Desert ; Sinai. 



52. TRIOI>lA, R. Br. Triodia. 



Spikelets 2-ranked, 3-5-flowered, somewhat laterally compressed, 

 lower flowerets perfect, upper sterile. Rachis jointed, the callosities 

 bearded or glabrous. Glumes nearly equal, somewhat longer than 

 flowerets. Lower pale concave, at length cartilaginous, 

 ciliate at margin or glabrous; apex bidentate with a mucro 

 or awn in sinus; upper pale 2-keeled, with ciliate or gla- 

 brous margin — Herbs with spikelets in a short, interrupted 

 spike. 



T. glabcrrima, Post. 3^ .3, glabrous, tufted; roots 

 fibrous; culms erect, slender, leafy to two-thirds their 

 height. Leaves narrow-linear, convolute, acuminate, ligule 

 reduced to a thin, tawny, frayed edge. Spike simple, of 

 1-3-spikelets, the internode longer than thespikelet; spike- 

 let .01 long, pedicels obs(;Iete; flowerets 2-ranked; glumes 

 linear-lanceolate, acute, 5-nerved; axis and pales glabrous; 

 lobes of lower pale hyaline, triangular-ovate, obtuse; awn 

 slender, hy^iWne, plumose, a little longer than lobes — May 

 — Between B0rmah and Gerash (Gilead). 



Species with aspect of T. clecumbciis, L., differs by being gla- 

 brous throughout, even to the axis of the inflorescence and the pales, 

 and by the hyaline lobes and plumose awn. 



53. DIPL,/1CHXE, P. de B. Diplachne. 



Spikelets many-flowered, linear, short-pedicelled, somewhat remote 



Lower pale of B. 



bromoides ; short- 



awned form. 



Fig. 400. 



Spike of T. 

 glaberrima. 



