474 GRASS FAMILV. 



and broad-leaved, with drooping, large, 6-10-flowered spikolcts 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 S. 



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

 many largo, dnuiping, oblong-ovate, silvery -yellow, l"J-o()-liowercd spike- 

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



Br)za mdxima, Linn. Lakge Quaking Guass or Kattm:.snakk Gkass. 

 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. Ku. 



B. minor, Linn. (B. onAciLis). Littlk QiAKi.vr. Guass. Smaller, 

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

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



H- -t- Spikelets large, hut loose, oat-like. 



Avena steri/is, 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. 



•1- -f- -I- Singular gi'ass, with imperfect flowers ; the perfect one (loith 1 or 

 2 sterile ones) home inxide a seedlike, pearly, flask-shaped pouch fot-med 

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



Colx Ldcryma-Jobi, Linn. Job'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 vith small simple pa)iicles, 

 grown in conservatories. 



Op/lsmenus Burmdnni,¥a\. (PAnicum variegXtum of florists). Slender 

 and spreading i)lants grown in pots, hanging baskets and luider 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. Ileealls depauperate forms of Barnyard Grass. Tropical Asia. 



* * # Tall perennial grasses, gnm-nfur laicn decoration. 



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



Miscdnthus Sinensis, Anders. (EulXma Japontca and varieties). 

 Zei$ka Grass. A stately grass from Japan, the forms with leaves striped 

 or banded (Eui.alia zeijrina, etc., of nurserymen) with yellow, now the 

 most coininon ; 4*^-0° high, with long slender leaves, and a rather small 

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

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



Gynerium argenteum, Nees. 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 to 12 feet 

 high and ov('rtopi)ing tlie leaves in autumn, bearing an ample silvery-silky 

 ]>anirlc ; si)ik('lets loosely 2-co-flowered. 



Eridnthus Ravennae, Beauv. Peiime Grass. Stems 5°-10° high, bear- 

 ing phimc-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 ; rhachis of tlie branches of the panicle jointed. S. Eu. 



Arunda Dbnax. Linn. 8°-20° high, gi-own for its stately habit (and the 

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



