GRASS FAMILY. 357 



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

 4- 8-flowered ; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. ^ 



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

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

 or awnless ; grain free. 



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, RYE. Tall ; spike as in wheat; spikelets with only 2 per- 

 fect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards the base ; lower palet ven- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. 



*-(-- Glumes 6 at each join', in front of the 3 spikelets, forming an involucre. 



Hordetim 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-awn cd. 



H. distichum, TWO-ROWED BAHLEY, 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. 



^_ H_ H_ H_ Spikelets in a contracted panic! e or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 w/iat on one side of the rhachis : aich with a single perfect flower, its palets 

 of coriaceous or cartilaginous texture : bi/ the side of it are either one or tico 

 tli in palets of a steri/e usual/ 1/ 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 tawnv yellow, dense ; long bristles 6 11 in a cluster, rough upwards (as 

 also all the following) ; palets of perfect flower wrinkled crosswise. 



S. viridis, GREEN FOXTAIL or BOTTLE-GRASS ; has less dense and green 

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



S. Italica, or GEKMANICA, ITALIAN 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 i-ipe ; bristles short and few in a cluster ; palets of the fertile 

 (lower smooth. 



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 I -flowered with 3 glumes ; no awns. 



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 spikes along the naked summit of the flowering stems, 

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

 flower, the lower palet of the latter bearing a coarse rough awn. (I) 



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. Stems not hollow, pithtj. 



1. Spikelets clustered or scattered in an ample panicle, each with one perfect and 

 one neutral or stamina te flower. 



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

 S6rgh.um vulgare, INDIAN MILLET, DuRRA,or DOITRA, &c., from Africa 

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

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. SACCHAR\TUM, SWEET SORGHUM, CHINESE 

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

 for the well-known corn-brooms. (T) 



