148 



GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



2. L. fascicularis (Lam.) Gray. Smooth; leaves longer than the erect or 

 geniculate-decumbent and branching culms, the upper sheathing the base of the 

 panicle; spikes 8-12 cm. long; spikelets slightly pediceled, 1 -\\-flowered, the 

 florets much longer than the lanceolate glumes ; lemmas hairy-margined toward 

 the base, with 2 small lateral teeth and a short awn in the cleft of the apex. 

 (Diplachne Beauv. ; D. acuminata and procumbens Nash.) Brackish meadows, 

 from Mass, southw. along the coast ; and from 111. southw. along the Miss. R. 

 Aug., Sept. 



59. BtTCHLOE Engelm. BUFFALO GRASS 



Spikelets unisexual ; plants monoecious or dioecious ; staminate spikelets 2-3- 

 flowered, sessile in 2 rows along the short 1-sided spikes ; glumes unequal, 

 obtuse ; lemmas larger, 3-nerved ; palea a little shorter 

 than the lemma ; pistillate spikelets 1-flowered, in nearly 

 capitate 1-sided spikes which are scarcely exserted from 

 the broad sheaths of the upper leaves ; glumes indurated, 

 trifid at the apex, united at base and resembling an 

 involucre ; lemma narrow, hyaline, inclosing the 2-nerved 

 palea ; grain free within the hardened glumes. A creep- 

 ing or stoloniferous perennial with narrow flat leaves, 

 and dissimilar staminate and pistillate spikelets borne on 

 the same or on distinct plants. (Name strongly con- 

 tracted from /Sotf/SaXoj, buffalo, and xX6?7, grass.} 



1. B. dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. Culms of the 

 staminate inflorescence 1-3 dm. high ; the spikes long- 

 exserted ; culms of pistillate inflorescence low, much 

 exceeded by the leaves ; sheaths overlapping ; blades 

 2 mm. wide or less ; staminate spikes 2 or 3, (5-12 mm. 

 long ; cluster of pistillate spikelets ovoid, 6 mm. long. (Bulbilis Raf.) Plains 

 of the Sask. to Minn., Kan., and Tex. One of the most valuable grasses of the 

 plains. Seedlings are monoecious, but the staminate and pistillate branches 

 propagate their own kind. FIG. 144. 



144. B. dactyloides. 

 cf and 9 inflorescence x %. 

 <f Spikclet and floret (above) 



xi%. 



$ Spikelet, section of same, 

 and outer glume x 1%. 



60. PHRAGMITES Trin. REED 



Spikelets loosely 3-7-flowered ; rhachilla clothed with long silky hairs ; glumes 

 unequal, lanceolate, acute ; lemmas narrow, long-acuminate, that of the lowest 

 floret somewhat longer, equaling the uppermost florets, , 



empty or subtending a staminate flower, the other florets 

 perfect ; paleas -| the length of their lemmas. Tall reed- 

 like perennials with stout leafy culms and large terminal 

 panicles. (Name from ^pcry^TTjs, growing in hedges, appar- 

 ently from its hedge-like growth along ditches.) 



1. P. communis Trin. Culms erect, stout, 1.5-4 m. 

 high, from long creeping rootstocks ; sheaths overlapping ; 

 blades 1.5-6 dm. long, 1-5 cm. wide, flat, glabrous ; panicle 

 tawny, 1.5-4 dm. long, branches ascending, rather densely 

 flowered ; spikelets 12-16 mm. long ; the florets exceeded by 

 the hairs of the rhachilla. (P. vulgaris BSP. ; P. Phrag- 

 mites Karst.) In wet places, edges of ponds, ditches, etc. 

 Rarely perfecting seed, spreading freely from the rootstocks, the leafy stolons 

 often running on the surface of the ground for a distance of 5-10 m. (Eurasia.) 

 FIG. 145. 



1 l.V P. mminunis. 

 5 and tf 



tlurct x iy 2 . 



AIM' MM) DONAX L., the GIANT RKKI>, is cultivated for ornament and is occa- 

 sionally spontaneous southward. IJi'srmblinu; rJirni/mi/is but taller, spikdcts 

 3-4-flowered ; flowers all perfect; rhachilla naked; lemmas clothed with long 

 silky hairs, short-awned from the bifid apex. 



