GRAMINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



879 



than flowerets, the lower ovate, obtuse, the upper obovate, obtuse, 

 twice to thrice as long; lower pale 3-nerved, 3-keeled, truncate and 

 eroded-denticulate at tip — April to August — In water; common. 



Var. chionopliila, Post. .02 to .04; panicle narrow, short — 

 In rills from snowdrifts ; top of Dohr-el-Qodib. 



65. ERACJROSTIS, P. de B. Eragrostis. 

 Spikelets pedicelled, laterally flattened, 3-co -flowered, the flower- 

 ets 2-ranked, imbricated, perfect, with a persistent axis. Glumes 

 membranous, keeled, 1-nerved, shorter than lower floweret. Pales 

 muticous, membranous, the lower o-nerved, concave, keeled, deciduous 

 with the caryopsis; upper 2-keeled, usually persisting on the axis — 

 Annuals or perennials; panicle diffuse or spiked. 



* Anmials ; culms erect, procumbent^ or geniculate-ascending. Lemes 

 narroio-linear. 



1. E. poaeoi€le§, P. de B. .2 to .4. Panicle ovate-oblong, 

 .06 to .3 long, ,03 to .1 broad, branches solitary; pedicels capillary, 

 divergent, shorter than spikelets; spikelets .005 to .009 long, .0015 to 

 .002 broad, lanceolate-oblong, 8-20-flowered; lower pale elliptical, 

 obtuse — August and September — Fields and grassy places; common. 



2. E. mega§tacliya, Link. 0.15 to. 5. Panicle ovate-oblong, 

 .05 to .15 long, .03 to .00 broad, branches usually solitary, pedicels 

 much shorter than spikelets; spikelets clustered or solitary, oblong 

 to oblong-linear, .006 to .015 long, .003 broad, 11-29-flowered; lower 

 ^dilQ oUong, retuse, often7nucronulate'-Msij to September — Fields; 

 coast to middle mountain zones; interior tablelands; Ghor-es-Safieh. 



3. E. pilosa, L. .4. Panicle oblong, .06 to .1 long, .01 to .02 

 broad, branches capillary, hairy at insertion, at length spreading, the 

 lower often whorled, 3-5 together ; pedicels capillary, as long as spike- 

 lets or longer ; spikelets linear, .003 to .005 long, .0007 to .001 broad, 

 5-11-flowered, j9wrpZM; lower pale minute, oblong, acatish, with nerves 

 slightlyprominent - September— 'Ain-Zehalta (Lebanon) ; Ghor-es-Safieh. 



4. E. ^gyptiaca, Del. Fig. 404. 

 .15 to .3. Panicle ^aZe, 

 contracted, .05 long, ,008 to. 01 

 broad, linear-oblong, branch- 

 es short, whorled, not ciliate 

 at base; spikelets subsessile, 

 linear, acute, .005 long, .001 

 broad, imbricated over each 

 other, 15-20-flowered, the axis 

 flexuous; lower pale oblong- 

 lanceolate, obtusish, the lateral 

 nerves prominent; upper pale 

 curved — January to May — 

 Sands; Gaza; Ghor-es-Safieh, 

 and southward to Egypt. 



* * Perennials, stout, erect; leaves linear, often 

 .005 hroad, convohite at tij). 



5. E. cyuo§iiroide§, R. et Sch. If 

 JIalfd. Bir'dm. QaM. 1 to 2, tufted ; root- 

 stock thick, creeping; culms terete, leafy. 



Fig. 405. 



a d 



(a) Tip of panicle of 

 E. jEgyptiaca, over- 

 ripe, (b) A spikelet, 

 magnified 3 diams. 



(a) Tipof panicle of Eragrostis 



cynosuroides. (6) A spikelet 



of the same magnified 



2 diameters. 



