THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



The leaf sheaths are normally entire, but on the culm leaves 



the sheath becomes partly split by the expansion of the culms. 



The ligule is long and more or less torn at the apex. The 



leaves are folded in 

 the bud, conduplicate, 

 the young shoots thus 

 appearing laterally 

 compressed. 



Orchard grass flow- 

 ers in June after 

 Kentucky blue grass, 

 about the same time 

 as red clover, thus be- 

 fore timothy; at the 

 Illinois Station three 

 to five weeks earlier. 

 The inflorescence is a 

 one-sided panicle, the 

 nearly sessile spike- 

 lets being arranged in 

 dense clusters. Spike- 

 lets are three to four- 

 flowered. The outer 

 glumes are slightly 

 shorter than the low- 

 er flowering glume. 

 When ripe the outer 

 glumes do not detach, 

 but the flowering 



glume enclosing the grain readily falls away. 



82. Seed. In the commercial seed the grain is enclosed in 

 the florets. Not infrequently the seeds remain in pairs. The 

 flowering glume is pointed, the sharp, fringed keel extending 

 into a short awn with a slight twist that helps to identify the 



Orchard grass taken at Cornell Station June 15 

 Panicle in bloom. One- half natural size 



