T^ TRIANDRIA. DTGYNIA. 



Tlie g-emis f)actif//s, as it now stands in Persoon, ap^ 

 pears to exist chiefly in tiie milder regions of AtVica, the 

 Cape of Good IJope, and Barbary; there are also 2 or 3 

 species in India. These species appear, however, to pos- 

 sess little or no affinity w,th the Li. glomerata of Europe. 



104. KOELERIA. Persoon. 



Calix irree^uliuly 2 or 3 flowered, 2-vaIve(l, 

 valves comiJiessetl-carinate. Corolla acuminate- 

 oblong, 2 valved, sliortlj avvned, longer than 

 the calix, glumes neivose. (Spike composed of 

 compressed spikelets, often pubescent and sub- 

 sessile.) 



Flowers in a simple lobed spike, almost as in PJile- 

 urn; spikek ts ciested; culix 2 or more flowered, resem- 

 bling' Dacti'lis glumerata, to wliich some of the species of 

 this genus are nearly allied. 



Species 1. K.criatata. 2-*iutida. Spike elongated, lob- 

 ed; lobes crowded appressed, approximate; spikelets ob- 

 loug-ovate, smooth and awnles, lower 2-flowered, up- 

 per 2), both with an additional setaceous rudiment; pedi- 

 ceils very sliort, and with tlie leaf and sheath somewhat 

 pubescent; stipule hairy. 



Obs O? Culm about a span, smooth, and sti-iate; leaf 

 very short, sheat!. long, spike al-out 2 incites; spikelets, 

 gieenish, sc: ri-.se, sliininj.', connpre-sed; calix uiitqiial,ca- 

 rinate,, acnle; largfr valve !inear-{)blong, smooth, (;ni-ough 

 a lens) cil ate ontiie keel; coioUa similar to ihe calix, m- 

 ner vahe included in the outer. 



On the plains of the Missouri, t; r. Very nearly allied 

 to the Aira cristata of Smitii, and in the structure of its 

 flowers lo the Dactylis glomerata! 



This genus, now c(»ntain.ng 8 species, indigenous to 

 Europe, to North America ui << Ba? bary, thout;,b perfectly 

 ratural, is not at present siiffic.eiuly defined, except by 

 habit; at the same lime it ought never to have been con- 

 founded withPofl, witii Aira^ or Aveiia. 



105. AVENA. L, (Oat-grass.) 



Calix 2-valved, 2, S, or many -flowered. Co- 

 rolla^ exterior valve lanreolate, somewhat te- 

 rete, furnislu'd with a dorsal awn. Awn geni- 

 culate^ and contorted. »< Seed tor the most part 



