292 GRAMINE.E. Cynodon. 



or a pedicelled imperfect floret, awnless, sessile in 2 rows. Glumes keeled, point- 

 less, somewhat unequal, spreading, shorter than the floret. Palets pointless, awn- 

 less, the lower larger, boat-shaped, prominently keeled, the upper 2-nerved, concealing 

 the rudiment in its fold. Stamens 3. Styles 2, rather long with feathery stigmas. 



A genus of which about a dozen species are described, but most of them are supposed to be 

 forms of the widely disseminated perennial one here given. 



1. C. Dactylon, Pers. Culms prostrate, stout, often creeping several feet, 

 clothed with undeveloped sheaths, and throwing out prostrate branches, as well as 

 ascending geniculate flowering ones 6 to 10 inches high : leaves about an inch long 

 and a line wide, with a rather obtuse scabrous apex, stiff" and sometimes involute, glau- 

 cous ; ligule short with very long hairs ; sheaths much crowded, loose, strongly 

 striate : spikes 3 to 6, an inch or two long, the rhachis concavo-convex : spikelets 

 rarely over a line long, imbricately appressed : glumes ovate, usually spreading and 

 rough on the keel ; lower palet broadly boat-shaped, smooth, the keel and margins 

 ciliate ; upper palet narrow ; rudiment half as long as the floret, sometimes minute. 

 Reichenb. Icon. Flor. Germ. t. 26 ; Nees, Gen. 1, t. 39. 



Near San Bernardino (Parry & Lemmon) ; San Jose, M. Jackson Lewis. This is the "Doub" 

 of the East Indies, the " Dog's-tooth Grass " of Europe, but in this country always called " Ber- 

 muda Grass." It is very common in all warm countries, including Australia ; in the Eastern 

 States it is thoroughly naturalized, being found as far north as Pennsylvania, and far more 

 abundantly south and southwestward, varying greatly in size according to the character of the 

 soil ; the spikes are sometimes purplish. This and the Crab-grass, Panicum sanguinale, are popu- 

 larly often confused ; that has its spikelets inserted on the rhachis by pairs, one sessile, the other 

 pedicelled, while in this they are all sessile and solitary. Though a troublesome weed in the cot- 

 ton fields, it is by many regarded as the most valuable of pasture grasses for the Southern States, 

 and of great value even for hay. It is a singular fact that it has never been known in the Eastern 

 States to perfect its seed, and it can only be propagated by cuttings. 



30. LEPTOCHLOA, Beauv. SLENDER GRASS. 



Panicle simple, its branches being long slender spikes, upon one side of which the 

 spikelets are sessile in two rows. Spikelets 3 - several-flowered, the uppermost 

 imperfect. Glumes membranaceous, the upper larger, keeled and often subulate- 

 pointed. Lower palet 3-nerved, ciliate or hairy, entire or 2-toothed, awnless or 

 bristle-awned from between the teeth. Upper palet smaller, prominently 2-nerved. 

 Stamens 2 or 3. Ovary stipitate : styles simply plumose. Seed, in some species, 

 loose in the pericarp. 



A small genus, as to the limits of which botanists differ ; species with the lower palet bristle- 

 awned between the teeth are by some referred to Diplachnc, Beauv. 



1. L. fascicularis, Gray. Annual, culms \ to 2 feet high, decumbent, genicu- 

 late, branching : leaves flat, 4 to 6 inches long, smooth or roughish, the upper mostly 

 equalling the panicle ; ligule a line long, lacerate ; sheaths loose : panicle 4 to 8 

 inches long, its base usually included ; spikes strict, 3 to 4 inches long ; spikelets 

 solitary or in twos or threes, short-pedicelled, 3 to 5 lines long, 5- 11-flowered, the 

 joints minutely hairy-tufted : glumes lanceolate, acute, rough on the sti'ong single 

 nerve, often mucronate, the lower at least a half shorter than the lower floret, the 

 upper as much longer : lower palet ovate-lanceolate, ciliate below the middle, short- 

 awned at the cleft apex, with two minute lateral teeth ; upper slightly shorter, short- 

 pointed, silky-ciliate : styles very long : pericarp membranous. Man. 623, t. 9 ; 

 Durand & Hilg. in Pacif. R. Rep. v. 15. Festuca polystachya, Michx. ; Ell. Sketch, 

 i. 169, t. 10, fig. 3. Diplachne fascicularis, Beauv. Agrost. 80, t. 16, fig. 9. Ura- 

 lepis (Tricuspis) composita, Buckl. in Proc. Acad. Philad. (1863), 94. 



Pose Creek (Heermanri) ; Fort Yuma (Major Thomas) ; Colorado River, Newbrrry. This does 

 not appear in any of the collections made by the State Survey, yet must be more frequent than this 



