DESCRIPTIONS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



165 



Old and New World. S. festucacea Link in both Old 

 and New World ; S. spiculosa Schmidt only upon Sag- 

 halin. 



262. (258) Graphephorum Desv. Like the preceding, 

 but lower and more delicate in habit, with more delicate 

 almost membranaceous glumes and naked ovary. 



Species one (G. melicoides Desv.), N. America. 



263. (259) Glyceria Brown. Spikelets many-flowered 

 in narrow or expanded panicles. Flowering glumes 

 rounded on the back, obtuse, awn- 

 less, somewhat dry-membranaceous 



near the tip ; 5-9-nerved. Fruit free, 

 oval. 



Species sixteen, mostly in N. 

 America, some endemic in Australia, 

 a few in Europe and Asia ; one 

 species, G. fluitans Brown, " Float- 

 ing Manna-grass" (Fig. 87), which 

 has linear, long-cylindrical spikelets, 

 somewhat acute flowering glumes and 

 narrow panicles, is cosmopolitan and 

 aquatic. It is one of the best fodder- 

 grasses for swampy meadows. The 

 fruit is collected in Prussia, Silesia, 

 and Poland by striking the panicles . 

 over a sieve. It forms an article of 

 commerce, and is cooked for mush. 

 G. aquatica Sm., which is cane-like, 

 with expanded panicles, often occurs F ' 

 in quantities on the edges of ponds, Gen - Germ., 1.57.) 

 and in a young state forms a useful food for cattle. 



264. (259) Atropis Eupr. (PuccineUia Parl.). In gen- 

 eral like the preceding, but distinguished by the lodicules 

 and style (see key). Fruit usually grown to the palea. 



Low, salt-loving grasses, often with rigid leaves. 

 Species fourteen, in all the temperate zones. A. dis- 

 tans Griseb. is very widely distributed. 



265. (260) Festuca L. Spikelets usually lanceolate, 

 paniculate or racemed, two- to many-flowered ; flowering 

 glumes rounded on the back below, often keeled 



