POACEAE. 



27 



2. Sporobolus Bertero§,nus 



(Trin.) Hitchc.& Chase. Bull Grass. 

 (Fig. 37.) Slender, wiry, 3° tall or 

 less. Leaves smooth, nearly erect, 1"- 

 3" wide, long-attenuate, the lower ones 

 6'-10' long, the upper shorter ; panicle 

 narow, often 1° long; spikelets about 

 1^" long, crowded on the short ap- 

 pressed branches of the panicle; sec- 

 ond scale ovate-oblong, about one 

 half as long as the spikelet. [Vilfa 

 Berteroana Trin.; S. angustus Buck- 

 ley.] 



Common In dry situations. Native. 

 Southern United States and Bahamas. 

 Flowers In summer and autumn. Its 

 seeds transported to Bermuda by birds or 

 by winds. Recorded as 8. indicus R. Br. 

 by Jones, Reade, Lefroy, Hemsley, Mllls- 

 paugh and Moore, and(?) as 8. elongatus 

 R. Br., by Lefroy. 



15. POLYPOGON Desf. 



Mostly annual grasses, with decumbent or rarely erect culms, flat leaves 

 and spike-like panicles. Spikelets 1-flowered; scales 3; the 2 outer empty, each 

 extended into an awn; third scale smaller, generally hyaline, short-awned from 

 below the apex, subtending a palet and perfect flower; palet shorter than the 

 scale. Stamens 1-3. Styles short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain free, 

 enclosed in the scale and palet. [Greek, in allusion to the many long awns 

 which resemble a beard.] About 10 species, widely distributed in temperate 

 and warm regions, rare in the tropics, P. Tnonspeliensis typical. 



Empty scales with awns 2-5 times 

 their length ; panicle silky, shin- 

 ing ; annual. 1. P. monspelicnsL^. 



Empty scales with awns of about 

 their length ; panicle dull ; peren- 

 nial. 2. P. littoralis. 



1. Polypogon monspeli6nsis 



(L.) Desf. Beard-grass. (Fig. 

 38.) Culms 2° tall or less, erect 

 from a usually decumbent base, 

 plant annual. Leaves lA'-6' long, 

 \V'-2" wide, scabrous, especially 

 above; panicle l'-4' in length, 

 dense and spike-like, the branches 

 ascending; spikelets crowded; 

 outer empty scales about 1" long, 

 obtuse, slightly bifid, scabrous, 

 bearing a more or less bent awn 

 2"-3"' long; third scale much 

 shorter, erose-truncate, hyaline, 

 bearing a delicate awn, inserted 

 below the apex. 



In waste places occasional. Nat- 

 uralized from Europe. Naturalized 

 In both eastern and western North 

 America. Flowers in summer and 

 autumn. 



