94 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



is very common in cultivated ground from November to May, the 

 panicles are purplish and the bristles are in pairs and roughened 

 downwards or barbed, after flowering the heads become matted to- 

 gether and become troublesome by adhering to the clothes. 



3. iS'. glauca. This is a West Indian species which, with us, flowers 

 about October ; it is found by waysides and in fields throughout the 

 Islands, the stem and sheaths are smooth, and the spike which is 

 nearly simple sometimes attains to a length of four inches ; the 

 bristles arc roughened upwards, two or three times the length of the 

 spikelet.-^;, and rciiuiiu erect, ydlow and persit^teut for aome weeks 

 after flowering. 



IX. CENCHUIS, 



Spikes terminal, consisting of several distinct, burr- Hie spikelets, each 

 of which is two-floivtred and r/u-losed in a persistent, spiny involucre 

 which hardens around the fruit. 



1 . C. echinatus (Eurr-grass) . An annual sub-erect grass, one to two 

 feet high ; leaves lanceolate, tapering to a jioint, four inches long, 

 one-thii-d of an incli wide, with a few silky hairs near the base, mar- 

 gin rough, sheath open ; spike two to three inches long, spikelets 

 quarter-inch in diameter, spines slender, pubescent, in several 

 series, the outer shorter, bristle-like. Distribution, Bahamas, &c. ; 

 habitat, cultivated ground and waysides, common. Spikes green, 

 with purplisli spines ; July to October. The burrs are a nuisance, 

 sticking to the clothes, or penetrating the flesh of the unwary. 



2. C. trihuloidi's. Annual ; stems procumbent, branching at the 

 base, about a foot long ; leaves short, minutely roughened on the 

 margin ; sheath open, hairy at the throat ; spike tAV<5 inches long, 

 consisting of six to taw burr-like spikelets which are half an inch in 

 diameter ; spines stout, lanceolate or triangular , acute, pubescent, 

 in several series, without bristle-like hairs at base. Distribution, 

 North America ; liabitat, sandy baj's. Spike whitish ; October. 



X. ERAGROSTIS. 



spikelets many -flowered, awnlcs^. 



1. E. ci/iaris. An annual grass ; stems wiry, rigid, radiating and 

 slightly ascending fiom the tufted base, about a foot long ; leaves 

 four to six inches long, narrowed to the slender point, with long 

 silky liairs at base ; panicle spike-like, interrupted below, two to 

 four inches long, slender, j)urplish ; spikelets about six-flowered, 

 flat com])resscd, the palea^ fringed Avith white silky hairs. Dis- 

 tribution, \Vest Indies ; habitat, fields and waste places. October. 



1). Poniclr fiomewliat contracted. 



XI. SrOKOliOLUS. 



Spikelet.s one-Jlowercd, awnless, outer glume rather smaller than the 

 inner, which rquals the membranous pah\e ; stiymas plumose, projecting 

 from the sides of the florets, 



