444 CXLII. OEAMINEiE. 



unawnicd. Stamens 3. — lu fertile spikclets the outer glume 

 is at first fleshy, becoming hardened and surrounding the 

 inner, no palea to the neutral flower. Flowering glume and 

 palea of female flower rather fleshy, unawned. Stamens 

 eftete. Fruit globose. — Nees in Agrost. Bras. p. 310 ; P. et B. 

 t. 24. p. 5. 



Pretty, striking-looking grasses, generally growing in damp spots. — One 

 species (C lachryma)^ is cultivated occasionally, the hardened bony invo- 

 lucres of which are called " Job's tears." 



TeIBE 2. PnALAEIDE^. 



30. PHALARIS, Linn. 



Spikelets crowded in an ovate, oblong or cylindrical dense 

 panicle, with 1 perfect flowering glume and 1-2 imperfect, 

 scale-like ones below it. Outer glumes 2, equal, keeled or 

 dorsally winged, 3 -nerved, larger than the flowering. Flower- 

 ing glume subcoriaceous, entire, pointless, 5-nerved ; palea 

 entire, coriaceous, half-enclosed. Grrain free, compressed, not 

 furrowed, enclosed in the hardened flowering glume and palea. 

 — Nees^ I. c. p. 5. 



2 Cape species. The common Canary-grass is a familiar example of this 

 genus. 



TeIBE 3. P0ACEJ3. 



SUBTEIBE 1. AgEOSTIDE^. 



31. SPOROBOLUS, E. Br. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, awnless, in a loose or close and spike- 

 like panicle. Outer glumes 2, rigid, subcarinate, mostly 1- 

 nerved, the lower smaller or very small. Flowering glume 

 nerveless or 1-3-nerved; palea subequal, 2-carinate. Grain 

 free. — Nees, I.e. p. 151. 



Annual or perennial grasses ; leaves slender, often rigid, with involute 

 margins ; inflorescence much more rigid than in the following genera.- 

 Several Cape species. 



32. AGROSTIS, Linn. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, usually in a diffuse panicle. Outer 

 glumes pointless, keeled, the lower somewhat larger. Flowering 

 glume shorter than the outer, membranous, pointless or dor- 

 sally awned ; palea smaller, membranous, sometimes obsolete. 

 Grain free. — ^ees, I. c. p. 147, 148, 150. 



A. Bergina is a slender, pale grass of the Western district. — A. umhel- 

 lulata, Trin. {Colpodium 2^^(silium, Nees), a somewhat doubtful species, is 



