GRASS FAMILY. 



105 



7. NAZI A Adans. Fam. PI. a: 31. 1763. 

 [TRAGUS Hall. Hist. Stirp. Helv. a : 203. 1768.] 



[LAPPAGO Schreb. Gen. 55. 1789.] 



An annual grass, diffusely branched, with flat leaves and i-flowered deciduous (pikelets. 

 either solitary or in clusters of 3-5 in a terminal spike. Scales of spikelet a or t. the outer- 

 most small or wanting, the second rigid and covered with hooked prickle. 

 branous, subtending a palet and perfect flower. [Name unexplained. ] 



A monotypic genus, native of tropical and 

 emperate regions of the Old World. 



Nazia racemosa ( L,. ) Kuntze. 

 Prickle-grass. (Fig. 226.) 



Ccnchrns.racewosa L. Sp. PI. 1049. 1753. 

 " appago racemosa Willd. Sp. PI. 1:484. 1798. 

 \'a:ia nut-inosa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 780. 

 1891. 



Culms 2 / -i4 / tall, erect, simple to diffusely 

 branched, smooth below, pubescent above. 

 Sheaths smooth and glabrous; leaves 1'-$' 

 , i // -2 // wide, acuminate, rather strongly 

 riliate ; spike i'-4' long, sometimes partially 

 icluded in the somewhat inflated upper 

 icath ; spikelets i-flowered: first scale very 

 lall, almost hyaline; second scale coria- 

 aus, \y 2 " long, acute, 5-nerved, each nerve 

 led with a row of hooked prickles ; third 

 lie \ ff long, keeled, sharp-pointed, i- 

 lerved, membranous, enclosing a palet of 

 te texture and a perfect flower. 

 Occasional in ballast and waste places about 

 ic Atlantic seaports. Abundant from Texas to 

 rizona and Mexico. Native of Europe and 

 sia. July-Sept. 



8. PASPALUM L,. Syst. Ed. 10, 2: 855. 1759. 



Perennial grasses of various habit, with generally flat leaves and i-flowered spikelets 

 Jrne in 2-4 rows on i-sided spikes, which are single, in pairs, or panicled. Spikelets oblong 

 to orbicular, flat on the inner surface, convex on the outer. Scales 3, rarely 2 by the absence 

 of the outermost, the outer ones membranous, the inner one indurated and subtending * 

 palet and perfect flower. Stamens 3. Styles separate ; stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid or 

 oblong, free. [An ancient Greek name for some grass, used by Hippocrates.] 



About 160 species, of wide distribution in tropical and temperate regions, most aboad.r 

 America. 



Spikelets secund, with the back of the flowering scale turned toward t: 



Rachis membranous, dilated, its wings almost enclosing the spiki-let- at in. 

 Extending beyond the spikelets, long-acuminate; spikek -is ath.ut ' " long. 



i /'. mu, >,-n,tium. 



Not extending beyond the spikelets, acute; spikelets about i" '. 



membra naff* * . 



Rachis not membranous nor enclosing the spikelets at maturity. 

 Spikelets oval or elliptic, acute. 



Spikelets glabrous or somewhat pubescent; spikes in pairs or occai 



.' '.; 



Spikelets villous on margins: spikes 4-12. 

 Spikelets from oval to orbicular, very obtuse. 



Spikes i, or sometimes 2, on the 1-3 slender peduncles exserted from tB 

 spikelets i" or less long. 

 Leaves and sheaths pubescent, the former generally long, nan 



lets about X" long. 

 Leaves and sheaths glabrous or somewhat pubescent, the form 



lax. ciliate: spikelets about i" long. 

 Leaves and sheaths glabrous, the former short and broad 



spikelets about K' 7 long. 7 '' /"V'/wi 



Spikes 2 or more on the single stout peduncle. 



Spikelets iX"-i'A" long: spikes generally spreading. 



Spikelets exceeding iM in length; spike* i;em rally t-i ^^ 



Spikelets not strictlv secund, the back of the flowering scale turned away from the rachi 

 Spikelets less than i" long, oblong. 

 Spikelets about 2" long, broadly lanceolate. 



