GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



147 



long ; spikelets 5-7 mm. long ; first glume warty-tuberculate on the nerves ; 

 florets stiffly ciliate on the margins. (C americanum Spreng.) — Wet pine 

 barrens, Va., and southw. — Taste very pungent. Fig. 140. 



56. DACTYLOCTENIUM Willd. Crowfoot Grass 



Spikelets several-flowered, the uppermost imperfect, sessile and crowded in 

 2 rows along one side of a continuous rhachis, which extends beyond the spike- 

 lets in a naked point ; glumes broad, keeled ; lemmas boat- 

 shaped, cuspidate; palea equaling the lemma, acute, deeply 

 folded between the ciliate-winged keels ; grain reddish brown, 

 the loose pericarp transversely wrinkled. — Annual, with more 

 or less decumbent and creeping base, and 2-6 stout unilateral 

 spikes digitate at the apex of the culm. (Name from Sd/cri^Xos, 

 linger^ and Kreviov, a little comh^ alluding to the digitate and 

 pectinate spikes.; 



1. D. AEGYPTiuM (L.) Richter. Usually glabrous ; culms 

 rooting at the lower nodes; spikes 1.5-5 cm. long; glumes 

 scabrous on the keel, the second cuspidate ; the awiied tip 

 of lower lemma inflexed, that of the others straight^ or 

 curved. (Z>. aegyptiaciim Willd. ; Eleusine aegyptia Pers.) 

 — Yards and cultivated fields, N. Y., 111., and southw. (Nat. 

 from tropics of the Old World.) Fig. 141. 



141. D. aegyptium. 

 Inflorescence x y^- 

 Spikelet x 2. 

 Fruit X 3. Seed X 4. 



142. E. indica. 

 Part of inflorescence x i^. 

 Spikelet and floret x 2. 

 Fruit and seed x 4. 



57. ELEUSINE Gaertn. Goose Grass. Yard Grass 



Spikelets several-flowered, awnless, florets perfect or uppermost staminate, 



sessile and closely imbricated in 2 rows along one side of a continuous rhachis, 



which does not extend beyond the terminal spikelet ; 

 glumes unequal, shorter than the. floret, scabrous on the 

 keels ; lemmas broader, with a thickened 5-ribbed keel ; 

 palea shorter, acute, the narrowly winged keels distant ; 

 grain black, the loose pericarp marked with comb-like 

 lines, free within the sul3rigid lemma and palea. — Coarse 

 tufted annuals with stout unilateral spikes digitate or 

 approximate at the apex of the culms. (Name from 

 'EXeucr/j', the town where Ceres, the goddess of harvests, 

 was worshiped.) 



1. E. ixDicA Gaertn. Glabrous ; culms flattened, de- 

 cumbent at base ; sheaths loose, overlapping, compressed ; 



spikes 2-10, 2.5-8 cm. long ; spikelets appressed, 3-5-flowered, about 5 mm. long. 



— Yards and waste ground, Mass., n. 111., Kan., and southw. (Nat. from tropics 



of the Old World.) Fig. 142. 



58. LEPT6CHL0A Beauv. 



Spikelets 2-several-flowered, the uppermost floret usually 

 imperfect or rudimentary, sessile or nearly so, in 2 rows 

 along one side of the slender continuous rhachis ; glumes and 

 lemmas keeled, the latter 3-nerved, acute, awnless or short- 

 awned, exceeding the palea. — Usually tall annuals with flat 

 leaves and elongated sijnple panicles composed of the numer- 

 ous very slender spikes scattered along the main axis. 

 (Name composed of Xctttos, slender^ and x^^°^') grass^ from 

 the long attenuated spikes.) 



1. L. filif6rmis (Lam.) Beauv. Culms 4-12 dm. high ; 

 shPiiths papiUose-hniry ; spikes 20-40, 5-10 cm. long, ascend- 

 ing; spikelets about 3 mm. long; ghimeft more or le.ss 

 mucronate, nearly equaling the 3-4 awnless fforpts. (/>. 

 mncronata Kunth ; L. nttcmiata Steud.) — Fields, Va. to 



111., Mo., and southw. 



Aug. 



Fig. 143. 



143. L. filiformis. 

 Inflorescence x V,o. 

 A part of same with 



2 spikelets X iVg. 

 Spikelet and floret X 3. 



