DESCRIPTIONS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



93 



usually with a membranaceous wing upon the keel. 

 Flowering glume and palea hard, shining ; lodicules dis- 

 tinct ; stamens three. 



Species ten, mostly in Southern Europe ; a few in 

 Northern Europe and in America. Ph. canariensis, 

 " Canary grass" (Fig. 40), with strongly-winged keels on 



FIG. 40. Phalaris minor L. M, 

 FIG. 39. Ehrharta Urvilleana Kunth. Ph. canariensis L . (After 

 CAfter Kunth, Revis. Gram. pi. 6.) Nees, Gen. Germ., 1. 12.) 



the empty glumes and the third and fourth empty glumes 

 half as long as the flowering glume, is cultivated in South- 

 ern Europe and in Germany. The grain is used for bird- 

 food, and sometimes, in Southern Europe, as a cereal. 

 From the flour, weaver's glue is prepared. Ph. arundinacea 

 L., " reed-grass," with more open, interrupted panicles 

 and wingless empty glumes, forming a distinct section 

 Digraphis (Trin. as a genus, Bcddingera^lL&j. & Schreb.) 

 grows upon river-banks and is of some value for hay ; a 

 variety with leaves striped with white (" ribbon-grass") is 

 cultivated for ornament. 



