GRASS FAMILY. 357 



hard for a meadow grass : of many varieties, introduced from Europe ; spikelets 

 4- 8-flowered ; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. ^ 



T. vulgare, WHEAT. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided ; the spikelets 

 crowded, 4 - 5-flowered, turgid ; glumes ventricosc, blunt ; palet either uwued 

 or awnless ; grain free. . 



T. Spelta, SFELT. A grain rarely cult, in this country ; spike flat, the 

 rhachis fragile, breaking up at the joints ; grain enclosed in the palets. 



Secale cereale, RYE. Tall; spike as in wheat; spikelets with only 2 per- 

 fect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards the base ; lower palet ven- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. 



t- *- H- Glumes 6 at each joint, in front of the 3 spikelets, farming an involucre. 



H6rdeum VUlgare, COMMON BARLEY, from the Old World : spike 

 dense, the 3 spikelets at each joint of the rhachis all with a fertile flower, its 

 lower palet long-awned. 



H. distichum, TWO-ROWED BARLEY, from Tartary : only one spikelet 

 at each joint of the rhachis with a fertile flower, the two lateral spikelets being 

 reduced to sterile rudiments, the flowers therefore two-rowed in the spike. 



t- -i- -H- <- Spikelets in a contracted panicle or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 what on one side of the rhachis : each with a single perfect flower, its palets 

 of coriaceous or cartilaginous texture : by the side of it are either one or two 

 thin palets of a sterile usually neutral flower. 



Setaria, FOXTAIL-GRASS. Spikelets in clusters on the branches of the 

 contracted spike-like panicle or seeming spike, these continued beyond them 

 into awn-like rough bristles ; but no awns from the spikelets themselves. 

 Weeds, or the last one cult. ; all from Old World ; fl. late summer. 



S. glauca, COMMON FOXTAIL : in all stubble and cultivated grounds ; low ; 

 spike tawny yellow, dense ; long bristles 6-11 in a cluster, rough upwards (as 

 also all the following) ; palets of perfect flower wrinkled crosswise. 



S. viridis, GREEN FOXTAIL or BOTTLE-GRASS ; has less dense and green 

 spike, fewer bristles, and palets of perfect flower striate lengthwise. 



S. Italica, or GERMANICA, ITALIAN MILLET, BENGAL GRASS, &c. Cult, 

 for fodder, 3 - 5 high, with rather large leaves, a compound or interrupted so- 

 called spike, which is evidently a contracted panicle, sometimes 6' - 9' long and 

 nodding when ripe ; bristles short and few in a cluster ; palets of the fertile 

 flower smooth. 



Panicum (Digitaria) sanguinale, FINGER-GRASS or CRAB-GRASS. 

 Chiefly a weed in cult, fields in late summer and autumn, but useful in thin 

 grounds S. for hay; herbage reddish; spikes 4-15, slender, digitate, nearly 

 1-sided; spikelets seemingly 1-flowered with 3 glumes ; no awns. 



P. Crus-galli, COCK'S-FOOT P., or BARNYARD-GRASS. Common weedy 

 grass, of moist barnyards and low rich grounds : coarse, with rather broad leaves, 

 and numerous seeming spikes along the naked summit of the flowering stems, 

 often forming a sort of panicle ; spikelets containing one fertile and one sterile 

 flower, the lower palet of the latter bearing a coarse rough awn. 



P. capillare, WITCH GRASS of stubble and corn-fields in autumn, having 

 a very open capillary panicle, would be sought under another division ; it is a 

 mere weed. 



B. Stems not hollow, pithy. 



1. Spikelets clustered or scattered in an ample panicle, each with one perfect and 

 one neutral or staminate flower. 



* Without silky-down : glumes, SfC. russet-brown, coriaceous. 

 S6rgh.um VUlgare, INDIAN MILLET, DuRRA,or DOURA, &c., from Africa 

 or India; the var. CERNUUM, GUINEA CORN, has densely contracted panicle, 

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. SACCHARXTUM, SWEET SORGHUM, CHINESE 

 SUGAR-CANE, IMPHEE, &c., cult, for the syrup of the stem; and BROOM-CORN, 

 for the well-known corn-brooms. 



