474 GRASS FAMILY. 



and broad-leaved, with drooping, large, 6-10-flowered spikelets much flat- 

 tened laterally, so that the lower glumes are almost conduplicate and 

 keeled on the back ; awns very short. % Trop. Amer. and W. United 

 States ; has been recommended for fodder 8. 



B. brizaefdrmis, Fisch. & Mey. Elegant grass, in clumps ; 2° high, with 

 many large, drooping, oblong-ovate, silvery-yellow, 12-30-flowered spike- 

 lets ; awns U ; lower sheaths and often the short leaves hairy. Caucasus. 



Brlza mdxima, Linn. Large Quaking Grass or Rattlesnake Grass, 

 A low grass, with the hanging, ovate-heart-shaped, 12-20-flowered spike, 

 lets somewhat like those of Bromus, but pointless, very tumid, purplish, 

 becoming dry and papery, rattling in the wind, — whence the common 

 name ; awns 0. Eu. 



B. minor, Linn. (B. grAcilis). Little Quaking Grass. Smaller, 

 with triangular-ovate spikelets, which are about 7-flowered ; glumes 

 longer than the flowers. Very delicate and pretty. Eu. and Asia. 



•t- t- Spikelets large, but loose, oat-like. 



Avena sterilis, Linn. Animated Oat. Sometimes grown for the curi- 

 ous movements of the ripe florets due to the hygroscopic action of the 

 profuse covering of hairs ; panicle very large ; the spikelets about twice 

 the size of those of the Common Oat. Eu. 



H- -(- ^- Singular grass, with imperfect flowers ; the perfect one (with 1 or 



. 2 sterile ones) borne inside a seed-like, pearly , flask-shaped pouch formed 



by the sheath of a leaf; sterile inflorescence projecting from the flask. 



Co)x L6cryma-Jbbi, Linn. .Ton's Tears, Tear Grass. Plant 2°-4° 

 high, grown for the ornamental clusters of so-called "seeds" (these 

 sometimes used for rosaries), which are as large as a cherry stone, shining 

 and whitish. India and China. 



* » Diffuse, half-creeping perennial grass irith small simple payiicles, 



grown in conservatories. 



Opiismenus Burmdnni, Pal. (PA.nicum variegXtum of florists). Slender 

 and spreading plants grown in pots, hanging baskets and under benches, 

 known by its spreading, narrow-lanceolate, long-pointed leaves (2'-4' 

 long), which are more or less perfectly 2-ranked and in the common form 

 neatly striped with white and pink after the manner of the Wandering 

 Jew. Recalls depauperate forms of Barnyard Grass. Tropical Asia. 



* * * Tall perennial grasses, grown for lawn decoration. 

 ->- Panicle very silky-hairy, the hairs on the rhachis or in the flower. 



Miscdnthus Sinensis, Anders. (EulXlia Japonica and varieties). 

 Zebra Grass. A stately grass from Japan, the forms with leaves striped 

 or banded (EulXlia zebrina, etc., of nurserymen) with yellow, now the 

 most common ; 4*^-9° high, with long slender leaves, and a rather small 

 erect panicle late in the season ; spikelets 1-flowered, stamens 3, flower- 

 ing ghimes more or less bifid, and awned between the teeth. 



Gynerium argenteum, 'Sees. Pampas Grass. Tall, reed-like grass, 

 from S. Amer., with a large tuft of rigid linear and tapering recurved- 

 spreading leaves, several feet in length ; the flowering stem 6 to 12 feet 

 high and overtopping the leaves in autumn, bearing an ample silvery-silky 

 panicle ; spikelets loosely 2-x -flowered. 



Eridntbus Ravennce, Beauv. Plume Grass. Stems 5°-10° high, bear- 

 ing plume-like, violet or brownish, silky panicles l°-2° long ; leaves for 

 the most part in a clump at the base of the stems ; spikelets awned, with 

 one perfect flower ; rliachis of tlie branches of the panicle jointed. S. Eu. 



Arundo Dbnax, Linn. 8°-20° high, grown for its stately iiabit (and the 

 striped leaves of one variety) ; leaves comparatively short, broad and flat, 



