156 CYNODON. 



crowded, naked raceme. Glumes lance awl-shaped, 

 keeled, almost equal, ratlier, longer than the some- 

 what equal membranaceous palets, of which the 

 lower is cylindrical-involute, with the midrib pro- 

 duced from just below the 2-cleft apex into a straight 

 and slender, bristle-like awn ; the upper with the 

 abortive rudiments at its base. Stamens 3. Stigmas 

 pencil form, purple. Root perennial. Leaves short 

 and flat, thickish, 1 to 3 inches long. 



Name from ot two Greek words gymnos naked, 

 and pogon beard alluding to the reduction of the 



abortive flower to a bare awn. 

 \ 



1. G. Racemosus (Naked Beard Grass). Pine 

 barrens of New Jersey to Virginia and southward. 

 Flowers in August and September. 



2. G. Trefolius (Short-leaved beard Grass). Sussex 

 county, Delaware, and southward. 



21. CYNODON Richard. BERMUDA or SCUTCH 



GRASS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, with a mere naked, short, 

 pedicilled rudiment of a second flower, imbricate 

 spiked on one side of a flattish rhachis ; the spikes 

 usually digitate at the naked summit of the flowering 

 culms. Glumes keeled, pointless, rather unequal. 

 Palets pointless and awnless ; the lower larger, boat- 

 shaped. Stamens 3. Low, diffusely-branched, and 

 extensively-creeping perennials, with short, flattish 

 leaves. 



