GENUS 9. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



121 



i, Holcus halepensis L. Johnson-grass. 

 Evergreen Millet. Fig. 276. 



Holcus halepensis L. Sp. PI. 1047. 1753- 

 Andropogon halepensis Brot. Fl. Lusit. i : 89. 1804. 

 Sorghum halepense Pers. Syn. i : 101. 1805. 



Culms erect, 3-5 tall, simple or sometimes 

 branched, smooth and glabrous ; sheaths smooth ; 

 blades 2 or less long, i'-i' wide, long-acuminate; 

 panicle open, i-ii long, the generally whorled 

 branches spreading and naked towards the base; 

 outer scales of sessile spikelet 2"-^" long, ovate- 

 lanceolate, usually purplish, pubescent with long 

 appressed hairs; awn readily deciduous, 4"-8" long, 

 more or less bent ; pedicellate spikelets of 4 scales, 

 the outer two 2j"-3i" long, membranous, 7-9- 

 nerved, their inrolled margins ciliate, the inner two 

 shorter and narrower, hyaline, sometimes with 

 staminate flowers. 



In fields and waste places, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania to Kansas and Arizona, south to Florida and 

 Texas. Widely distributed by cultivation in tropical 

 America. Native of southern Europe and Asia. July- 

 Sept. Maiden-cane, Egyptian Millet, Cuba, Syrian or 

 St. Mary's-grass. > 



10. NAZIA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 31. 1763. 



[TRAGUS Hall. Hist. Stirp. Helv. 2: 203. 1768. LAPPAGO Schreb. Gen. 55. 1789.] 

 Annual grasses, diffusely branched, with flat leaves and i-flowered deciduous spikelets, 

 either solitary or in clusters of 3-5 in a terminal spike. Scales of spikelet 2 or 3, the outer- 

 most small or wanting, the second rigid and covered with hooked prickles, the third mem- 

 branous, subtending a palet and perfect flower. 



Species 2 or 3, in tropical and temperate 

 regions. Type species : Cenchrus racemosus L. 



i. Nazia racemosa (L.) Kuntze. 

 Prickle-grass. Fig. 277. 



Cenchrus racemosus L. Sp. PI. 1049. 1753. 

 Lappago racemosa Willd, Sp. PI. i: 484. 1798. 

 Nazia racemosa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 780. 1891. 



Culms 2'-i4' tall, erect, simple to diffusely 

 branched, smooth below, pubescent above. 

 Sheaths smooth and glabrous; leaves i'-3' 

 long, i "-2" wide, acuminate, rather strongly 

 ciliate ; spike i'~4' long, sometimes partially 

 included in the somewhat inflated upper 

 sheath; spikelets i-flo\vered; first scale very 

 small, almost hyaline ; second scale coria- 

 ceous, il" long, acute, 5-nerved, each nerve 

 armed with a row of hooked prickles ; third 

 scale i" long, keeled, sharp-pointed i-nerved, 

 membranous, enclosing a palet of like texture 

 and a perfect flower. 



Occasional in ballast and waste places about 

 the Atlantic seaports. Native of Europe and 

 Asia. July-Sept. Burdock-grass. 



ii. SYNTHERISMA Walt. Fl. Car. 

 76. 1788. 



[DIGITARIA Scop. Fl. Cam. Ed. 2, i : 52. 1772. Not Heist. 1763.] 



Annual grasses with flat leaves, and spikelets borne in pairs or sometimes in 3's, in 

 secund racemes which are digitate, in whorls, or approximate at the summit of the culm. 

 Racemes with the rachis angled or winged. Scales of the spikelet 4, sometimes 3 by the 

 suppression of the lowest one; the fourth or innermost scale chartaceous, the margins hyaline 

 and not inrolled, subtending a palet of similar texture and a perfect flower. Stamens 3. 

 Stigmas plumose. [Greek, crop-making, in allusion to its abundance.] 



About 20 species, widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Type species : Syn- 

 thcrisma praccox Walt. 



