34 POACEAE. 



scabrous above or sometimes sparingly hairy; panicle 2.5-7.5 cm. long, 4-10 

 mm. thick, dense and spike-like, usually exserted; spikelets 2-2.5 mm. long, the 

 outer scales about equal, acute, smooth and glabrous; third scale smooth and 

 glabrous, acute, slightly shorter than the second and about equalling the obtuse 

 palet. 



Moist situations, especially in brackish swamps, Great Bahama, Gun Cay. 

 Andros, New Providence, Eleuthera, Rum Cay, Long Island, Fortune Island, Crooked 

 Island, Grand Turk, Little Inagua, Inagua, Water Cay, and Anguilla Isles : Ber- 

 muda ; Virginia to Florida and Texas ; West Indies and tropical continental America. 

 SEA-SHOBB RUSH-GRASS. 



22. SPAR-TINA Schreb.; Gmel. Syst. 123. 1791. 



Perennial glabrous grasses, with long horizontal rootstocks, flat or in- 

 volute leaves, and an inflorescence of one-sided spreading or erect alternate 

 spikes. Spikelets 1-flowered, narrow, deciduous, borne in two rows on the 

 rachis, articulated with the very short pedicels below the scales. Scales 3; the 

 two outer empty, keeled, very unequal; the third subtending a perfect flower, 

 keeled, equalling or shorter than the second; palet often longer than its scale, 

 2-nerved. Stamens 3. .Styles filiform, elongated. Stigmas filiform, papillose 

 or shortly plumose. Grain free. [Greek, referring to the cord-like leaves of 

 some species.] About 7 species, widely distributed in saline soil, a few in 

 fresh- water marshes. Type species: Spartina Schreberi Gmel. 



1. Spartina patens (Ait.) Muhl. Gram. 55. 1817. 



Dactylis patens Ait. Hort. Kew. 1: 104. 1789. 



Spartina juncea Willd. Enum. 81. 1809. 



Culms 3-9 dm. tall, erect, or decumbent at base, smooth. Leaves 1.5-3 

 dm. long, 24 mm. broad, involute, attenuate into a long tip, smooth and 

 glabrous beneath; spikes 2-10, 2.5-5 cm. long, usually ascending, more or less 

 peduncled, the rachis slightly scabrous; spikelets 6-8 mm. long; outer scales 

 acute, scabrous-hispid on the keel, the first usually rather less than one-half 

 as long as the second; third scale somewhat scabrous on the upper part of the 

 keel, emarginate or 2-toothed at the apex, longer than the first and exceeded 

 by the palet. 



Sea-beaches, Eleuthera ; Fortune Island : eastern United States ; Bermuda ; 

 Jamaica ; Porto Rico ; Guadaloupe ; Martinique. SALT GRASS. 



23. CAPRIOLA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 31. 1763. 

 [CYNODON Eich.; Pers. Syn. 1: 85. 1805.] 



Perennial grasses with short flat leaves and spicate inflorescence, the spikes 

 digitate. Spikelets 1-flowered, secund. Scales 3; the 2 lower empty, keeled; 

 flowering scale broader, membranous, compressed; palet a little shorter than 

 the scale, hyaline, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas short, plu- 

 mose. Grain free. [Name mediaeval Latin for the wild goat, that feeds on 

 this grass in waste rocky places.] Fiour known species, of which three are 

 Australian, the following typical one widely distributed. 



1. Capriola Dactylon (L.) Kuntze, Kev. Gen. 764. 1891. 



Panicum Dactylon L. Sp. PI. 58. 1753. 



Cynodon Dactylon Pers. Syn. 1 : 85. 1805. 



'Culms 1-3 dm. tall, erect, from long creeping and branching stolons, 

 smooth and glabrous. Sheaths glabrous or somewhat hairy, crowded at the 



