408 GRASS FAMILY. 



Avena satii^a, Linn. Common Oat. From Old World ; soft and smooth, 

 with a loose panicle of large, drooping spikelets, the palets investing tlie 

 grain ; one flower with a long, twisted awn on tlie back, the other awn- 

 less ; flowers 2 or 3 in the spikelet, perfect, or the uppermost rudimen- 

 tary. ® 



A. nOda, Linn. Nakicd Oat. Rarely cult., from Old World; has nar- 

 rower, roughi.sli leaves, ;{ or 4 flowers in the spikelet, and grain loose in 

 the palets. ® 



-(- 4- Sj)ikelcts in strict sj^ilcs, or in sticli a dense panicle as to appear to 

 be spicate. 



■>-<■ Glumes 2 to each spikdet. 



Trlticum sat)irum. Lam. Wheat. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided; 

 the spikelets crowded, 4-5-flowered, turgid ; glumes ventricose, blunt ; 

 palet either awned or awnle-ss ; grain free. Unknown wild. (I) 



Secale careale, Linn. Rye. Tall ; sjjike as in wheat ; spiKelets with 

 only 2 perfect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards tlie base ; 

 lower palet ventricose, long awned; grain brown. Probably from W. 

 Asia. ® 



■«- -w. Glumes G at each joint, in front of the 3 spikelets, forminy an involucre. 



Hdrdeum satl/um, Jessen. Common Bahley. From the Old World ; 



spike dense, the 3 spikelets at each joint of the rhachis all with a fertile 

 flower, its lower palet long-awned. Originally from W. Asia. ® 



//. distichon, Linn. Two-rovved Barley. From Tartary ; evidently 

 a cultivated state of the above ; only one spikelet at each joint of the 

 rhachis with a fertile flower, the two lateral spikelets being reduced to 

 sterile rudiuients ; the flowers therefore two-rowed in the spike. ® 



H. hexastichon, Linn. Six-Rowed Barley. Another form of PL 

 sativum, with roundish spikes, its joints very short and the flowers diver- 

 gently 0-rowed. Not common. 



* * Stems pithy and thick, not hecomimj hollow. 



Zea Mays, Linn. Maize, Indian Corn. Stem terminated by the clus- 

 tered, slender .spikes of starainate flowers (the tassel) in 2-flowered spike- 

 lets ; the pistillate flowers in a dense and many-rowed spike borne on a 

 short axillary branch (the ear), two flowers within each pair of glumes, 

 but the lower one neutral, the upper pistillate, with an extremely long 

 style, the silk. Very many forms. Cent, and S. Amer. ® (Lessons, 

 Figs. OG-70.) 



IL Canes and Sorghums, wrtA pithi/, solid. stems. Cultivated for sugar 

 or broom-making (occasionally for fodder). Spikelets clustered or 

 scattered in an ample panicle, each ivi'th one perfect and one neutral or 

 staminate floicer. 



SSrghum irufgare, Vers. (Andropooon Sorghum of some writers). In- 

 dian, rKAKL or Black Millet. From Africa or India; a tall, maize- 

 like jflaiit without silky down in the spikelets ; glumes coriaceous, russet- 

 color. Var. CERNUUM, Guinea Corn, has densely contracted panicle, 

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. Durra, Doura, or Kaffir Corn, has 

 densely contracted panicles. Var. sacchar\tum. Common Sorghum, 

 Chinese Sugar Cane, Imi-iiee, i!ie., cult, for the .syrup of the stem aiul 

 for fodder ; and Broo:m Corn, with open, long-rayed panicles, for the 

 well-known corn bmoms. ® 



Sdccharum officinarum, Linn. Sugar Cane. Cult, far S. ; rarely left 

 to flower, propagated by cuttings of the stem ; stem 8°-20'^ high, l'-2' 

 thick ; long, white, silky down with the flowers. H 



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