Chlorideae 41 



Tribe 6. CHLORIDEAE. FINGER-GRASS TRIBE. 



Spikelets 1-several-flowered in 1-sided spikes or 

 racemes ; the racemes digitate or fasciculate, rarely soli- 

 tary ; flowering glumes usually keeled, entire and un- 

 armed or toothed and with 1-3 straight awns. 



Spikelets imbricated in 2 rows, forming unilateral spikes, which are scat- 

 tered along a common rachis. 24. SPABTINA. 



Spikes 2-6, digitate. 23. CYNODON. 



Spikes slender, alternating and more or less remote along a common 

 axis. 25. LEPTOCHLOA. 



23. CYNODON Pers. BERMUDA-GRASS. 



Perennial mostly from running rootstocks, with short 

 flat leaves and spicate inflorescence. Spikes digitate, 

 slender. Spikelets 1-flowered, secund. Glumes 3 ; the 2 

 outer empty, keeled ; the third broader membranous, 

 compressed. Palea a little shorter than the flowering 

 glume, hyaline 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. 

 Grain free. 



1. C. Dactylon (L.) Pers. Culms 1-3 dm. high, erect, from 

 long creeping and branching stolons, smooth; sheaths glabrous 

 or somewhat hairy, crowded at the bases of the culms and along 

 the stolons; ligule pilose; leaves 25-50 mm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, 

 flat, rigid, smooth beneath, scabrous above; spikes 4-5, 12-25 

 mm. long, digitate; rachis flat; spikelets 2 mm. long; empty 

 glumes hispid on the keel, narrow, the first shorter than the second, 

 about ^3 as long as the broad and strongly compressed third one. 



Common along irrigation ditches and roadsides. Native of Europe. 

 Commonly called Bermuda Grass and extensively used for lawns. 



24. SPABTINA Schreb. CORD-GRASS. 



Perennial glabrous grasses with long horizontal root- 

 stocks, flat or involute leaves, and an inflorescence of 

 1-sided spreading or erect alternate spikes. Spikelets 

 1-flowered narrow deciduous, borne in 2 rows on the rachis, 



