GRASS FAMILY. 357 



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

 4-8-flowercd ; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. 11 



T. VUlgare, WHEAT. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided; the spikele 

 crowded, 4 - 5-flowered, turgid ; glumes ventricose, blunt ; palet either awne 

 or awnlcss ; grain free. (T) 



T. Spelta, SPELT. A grain rarely cult, in this country; spike flat, the*" 

 rhachis fragile, breaking up at the joints ; grain enclosed in tlie palets. (\) ^ 



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

 feet flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards the base ; lower palet veu- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. * ^*su 



- Glumes 6 at each joint, in front of the 3 spikelets, foiiminq an im-ohicre. 



Hordeum 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 BAULKY, 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 -t- -t- -t- Spikelets in a contracted panicle or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 iv'iat on one side of the r/iachis : each with a sinule perfect flower, its palets 

 of coriaceous or carti/aninmis 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. (T) 



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, GUEEN FOXTAIL or BOTTLE-GRASS ; has less dense and green 

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



S. Italica, or GERMANICA, ITALJ.AST 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. 



T// 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 L-flowered with 3 glumes; no awns. ^T) 



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 sp kes along the naked summit of the flowering stems, 

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

 llower, 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. Sterna not hollow, pithy. 



1. Spikelets clustered or scatter ft I in an ample panicle, each with one perfect and 

 one neutral or staminate flower. 



* Without silky-down : glumes, $~c. russet-brown, coriaceous. 

 S6rglium VUlgare, INDIAN MILLET, DuRRA,or DOURA, &c., from Africa 

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

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. SACCHAR\TI:M, SWEET 'SORGHUM, CHINESE 

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

 for the well-known corn-brooms, \) 



4vvx M*'- 



