40 



POACEAE. 



Hordeum sativum Juss., Barley, presumably Asiatic in origin, is occa- 

 sionally grown; a large patch was seen at Rose Cottage in 1914. 



32. ELYMUS L. 



Tall grasses, with usually flat leaves and dense terminal s.pikes. Spikelets 

 2-several-flowered, sessile, usually in pairs, occasionally in 3 's or more, in 

 alternate notches of the continuous or jointed rachis, the empty scales forming 

 an apparent involucre to the cluster. Two lower scales empty, narrow, acute, 

 sometimes awned, entire; flowering scales shorter, rounded on the back, 5- 

 nerved, usually bearing an awn. Palet a little shorter than the scale, 2-keeled. 

 Stamens 3. Styles very short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain sparsely 

 hairy at the summit, adherent to the palet. [Greek, to roll up, referring to the 

 involute palet.] About 40 species, natives of temperate regions. Type species: 

 Elymus avenarius L. 



1. Elymus virginicus L. Terrell- 

 grass. Virginia Wild Rye. (Fig. 60.) 

 Culms l*'-3° tall; sheaths sometimes 

 pubescent, the uppermost often inflated 

 and enclosing the peduncle and the base 

 of the spike; leaves 5-11' long, 2"-8" 

 wide, rough; spike 2'-7' in length, dense, 

 stout, upright; spikelets divergent from 

 the rachis, 2-3-flowered; empty scales 

 thick and rigid, lanceolate, ^'-1' long, 

 including the short awn, 5-7-nerved; 

 flowering scales 3"-4" long, glabrous, 

 bearing a rough awn 2"-9" in length, or 

 rarely awnless. 



Found by A. H. Moore on Ireland 

 Island in 1905. Introduced from eastern 

 North America. 



Arundinaria tecta (Walt.) Muhl., the Small Cane of the southeastern 

 United States, is mentioned by Lefroy as native in Bermuda, and doubtfully 

 recorded by Jones, but it has not been observed here by subsequent collectors, 

 and was probably mistaken for some other grass. [Arundo tecta Walt.] 



Saccharum officinanim L., Sugar Cane, a tall, broad-leaved species with 

 conspicuously jointed culms, which are used as sticks for chewing, is frequently 

 grown in the marshes. In the early years of the colony its cultivation was much 

 more extensive, and Lefroy notes that in 1675 it was thought necessary to pass 

 a law to prevent the destruction of cedars for sugar-boiling. 



Zea Mays L., Indian Corn, Maise, extensively grown in several races, 

 is one of the most important food-plants both for green corn, and for fodder. 



