430 GBAMINE^ 1 . [Leptochloa. 



40. LEPTOCHLOA, Beauv. 



Spikelets 2- or more-flowered, awnless, sessile or very shortly pedicellate 

 along one side of the slender or spike-like branches of a long panicle. Glumes 

 keeled, pointed or obtuse; the 2 outer ones empty; the axis ending in a 

 short pedicel above the last flower, bearing sometimes a rudimentary glume. 



A small genus, chiefly tropical or subtropical, both in the New and the Old World. 



1. L. chinensis, Nees; Steud. Syn. Gram. 209. Stems branched, creeping 

 and rooting at the base, ascending to 2 or 3 ft., glabrous and slender. Leaves 

 narrow, pointed, flaccid. Panicle slender and elegant, 6 in. to 1 ft. long, the 

 branches almost filiform, 2 to 4 in. long, alternate or clustered, and turned all 

 to one side. Spikelets not quite sessile, usually distant, narrow, 1 to 2 lines 

 long, 4- to 6 -flowered. Outer empty glumes rather unequal, pointed, flower- 

 ing ones broader and obtuse. — L. tenerrima, Kcem. and Schult. ; Kunth, 

 Enum. i. 270. 



Hongkong, Hance. Frequent in wet places in India, from the Peninsula to Burmah, and 

 northward to Silhet, S. China, and Amoy. 



41. AVENA, Linn. 



Spikelets several-flowered (usually 3- to 5-flowered), in a loose panicle. 

 Glumes scarious, at least at the top, 2 outer empty ones lanceolate, tapering 

 to a point ; the flowering ones smaller, 2-cleft at the top, with a long twisted 

 awn on the back of the glume ; the terminal glume often small and empty or 

 rudimentary. Axis of the spikelet hairy under the flowering glumes. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder regions of both hemi- 

 spheres, but in the tropics only in the higher mountains, or as introduced weeds. 



1. A. fatua, Linn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 302. An erect, glabrous annual, 

 2 to 3 ft. high, with a loose panicle of large spikelets hanging from filiform 

 unequal pedicels, arranged in alternate branches along the main axis. Outer 

 glumes near f in. long. Flowering glumes 2 or 3, scarcely so long, of a firm 

 texture at the base, and covered outside with long brown hairs. Awn full 

 twice as long as the spikelet, twisted at the base, abruptly bent about the 

 middle. 



In waste, rubbishy places, Hance. A common weed of cultivation in all corn countries, 

 of doubtful origin, but probably a native of the east Mediterranean region. 



42. CCELACHNE, Br. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, awnless, small and numerous, in a contracted panicle; 

 the upper flower unisexual, usually female, the lower hermaphrodite. Glumes 

 veiy concave and obtuse, the 2 outer empty ones smaller than the flowering- 

 ones. Paleas rather smaller, 2-nerved. Axis of the panicle not hairy. 



A genus limited to a single species. 



1. C. pulchella, Br. Prod. 187 ; Midi. Iconogr. t. 2. An annual, usually 

 about 2 in. high, but sometimes drawn up to 3 or 4 times that height. 

 Leaves light-green, narrow, seldom above 1 in. long. Panicle contracted into 

 a linear interrupted spike of 2 to 3 in., or the lower branches slightly spread- 

 ing. Spikelets about 1 line long. — Panicum (Isachne) simpliciusculum, W. 

 and Am. in Steud. Syn. Gram. 96. 



