876 GRAMINE^. (grass FAMILY.) 



56. ECHIl^ARIA, Desf. Echinaria. 



Spikelets 2-3-5-flowered, wedge-shaped, laterally compressed, ses- 

 sile, crowded into a head, the flowerets perfect, the uppermost some- 

 times tabescent. Glumes 3, unequal, membranous, keeled, the lower 

 2-3-awned, the upper 1-nerved, 1-awned. Lower pale coriaceous, con- 

 cave, 5-7-nerved, the nerves ending in unequal, diver- Fig. 402. 

 gent spines; upper pale 2-keeled, the keels produced 

 into spines at tip — Annuals, the heads with a few 

 spiny scales (empty glumes and pales) at base. 



E. capitata, L. © .05 to .3; culms solitary or 

 numerous, leafy below. Leaves flat, linear, puberulent. 

 Head globular to ovate, .01 to .015 long, the longest 

 spines of lower pale 3-4-times as long as pale — April 

 to June — Dry places; common. Head of E. capitata, 



57. AMMOCHL,OA, Boiss. Ammochloa. 



Spikelets laterally compressed, 7-15-flowered, flowerets perfect. 

 Glumes shorter than lower flowerets, ovate-oblong, acute, somewhat un- 

 equal, scarious-margined, keel to one side, with a broad, scarious wing. 

 Lower pale coriaceous, scarious-margined, ovate-oblong, tapering 

 into a somewhat prickly point; upper pale shorter and YiG. 403. 

 narrower, hyaline, linear-lanceolate, ciliate at the two keels 

 — Annuals, with spikelets in a 2-ranked, flattened, globular 

 to oblong spike, with a sort of involucre of abortive sj)ikelets. 



A. subacaulis, Bal. 2i .03 to .07, tufted. Heads 

 nearly sessile, clustered among radical leaves, or on culms 

 shorter than the leaves. Leaves membranous, dilated at base, 

 linear, elongated, flexuous — March and April — Coast; 

 Beirut to Jaffa, and southward to Egypt; Damascus; Spik« 

 Tiberias. ^^^^ 



5§. SESLiERIA, Arduin. Sesleria. • Moor-Grass. 

 Spikelets laterally compressed, 2-6-flowered, flowerets perfect, the 

 uppermost sometimes sterile. Glumes keeled, shorter than flowerets. 

 Lower pale membranous, keeled, 4-5-toothed at tip; upper 2-keeled, 

 bifid — Perennials ; spikelets nearly sessile in a cylindrical spike. 



S. argentea, Savi. 11 .2 to .5, tufted, stoloniferous. Leaves 

 rigid, glaucous, linear, scabrous-margined. Spike .03 to .04 long, 

 .005 to .006 broad; glumes lanceolate, acuminate-aristate, scabrous at 

 keel, nearly as long as flowerets; lower pale scabrous at keel, with 2-4 

 teeth or bristles and a short awn, or tapering into a short awn — May 

 to July — Alpine Lebanon. 



59. LiAHARCKIA, Msench. Lamarckia. 



Spikelets laterally compressed, clustered; some fertile, short, 2- 

 flowered, the lower floweret perfect, short-stalked, the upper tabescent 

 and long-stalked within the glumes; the others sterile, elongated, 

 6-l)-flowered, reduced to glumes, and imbricated, 2-ranked, obtuse, 

 muticous, lower pales. Glumes hyaline, lanceolate, tapering at both 

 ends, as long as flowerets. Lower pale of fertile floweret lanceo- 

 late, 5-nerved, hirtulous, bifld, aristate between teeth ; upper pale 2- 

 keeled, bifid — Annuals; panicles one-sided, racemose. 



Li. aurea, L. © .1 to .35; culms tufted, leafy. Leaves soft, 



