NAZIE^—MELINIDEM 175 



a short spike. The allied genus Pleuraphis furnishes a 

 few important forage grasses in the Southwest. Pleura- 

 phis Jamesi Torr., is called galleta in New Mexico, a 

 name which is applied in California to P. rigida Thurb. 



Other grasses of interest belonging to this tribe are 

 Nazia, one species of which, N. aliena (Spreng.) Scribn. 

 extends from the tropics into Arizona, and Osterdamia 

 (Zoysia), one species of which 0. matrella (L.) Kuntze 

 {Zoysia pungens Willd.), the Japanese or Korean lawn- 

 grass is occasionally cultivated in California, and along 

 the seacoast of the south Atlantic states. The first 

 mentioned genus is peculiar in that the fascicles of 3 to 5 

 spikelets form a bur, the second glume of each spikelet 

 being provided with hooked spines. In Osterdamia the 

 spikelets are single instead of in groups. 



Tribe IV. MELINIDE^ (TRISTEGINE^) 



213. This is a small tribe of about 8 genera, none of 

 which is represented in the United States. The spikelets 

 are borne singly in panicled racemes with a continuous 

 axis. The most important genus is Arundinella, reed-like 

 grasses, several species of which are found in tropical 

 America. 



