SPABTINA.] GRAMINE^. 471 



Southampton, lias the tip of the rachis exceeding the spike. S. Townseridii, 

 Groves, from Hythe (Hants), has shorter leaves and a flexuous tip to the 

 rachis. American specimens show similar variations. 



4. LEER'SIA, Soland. 



SpiJcelets jointed on the pedicel, panicled, much compressed, imbricate, 

 gibbous, 1-fld. Empty glumes 0. Fl. glume hard, awnless, broad, 3- 

 iierved, often ciliate. Palea as long, hard, 1 -nerved. Scales 2, ovate, 

 entire, short. Stamens 1-3, or 6. Ovary glabrous ; styles short, stigmas 

 feathery. Fruit laterally compressed, enclosed in the hardened glume and 

 palea. DISTEIB. Temp, and trop. regions; species 5. ETYM. J. D. 

 Leers, a German botanist. 



!. oryzoides, Swartz ; panicle effuse, stamens 3. 



"Wet meadows and watery places, rare ; Surrey, Hants, Sussex ; fl. Aug.-Oct. 

 Perennial. Root creeping. Stems 2-3 ft., decumbent below, smooth 

 shining, leafy, nodes villous. Leaves 3 in. broad, flat, scabrid, glaucous 

 sheaths compressed, almost smooth; ligule truncate, torn. Panicle 3-7 in. 

 very lax and few-fid., partially enclosed in the sheath when flowering 

 branches in ^ whorls, capillary, flexuous; upper part open with imperfect 

 ovaries; lower part included in the sheath, with fertile ovaries. Spikelets 

 fe in., dimidiate-oblong, thin but rigid, translucent, smooth or scaberulous, 

 pale green, keels with long rigid cilia. DISTRIB. From Denmark southd., 

 trop. Asia, Africa, and S. America. 



5. PHAIi'ARIS, L. 



Spikelets much laterally compressed, in open or contracted or spike-like 

 panicles, 1-fld., with 2 or more rudimentary glumes (scales or pedicels) 

 beneath the fl. glume on one side. Empty glumes 2, enclosing the flowering, 

 subequal, keeled. Fl. glume broad. Palea much smaller. Scales 2, mi- 

 nute. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous ; styles long, stigmas slender feathery. 

 Fruit compressed, enclosed in the coriaceous glume and palea. DISTKIB. 

 Trop. and temp, regions ; species 9 or 10. ETYM. The old name. 



SECTION 1. Phal'aris proper. Panicle spike-like. Empty glumei 

 broadly-winged. 



P. CANARIEN'SIS, L. ; panicle ovoid. Canary grass. 



Fields and waste places ; an escape ; fl. July. Annual, glaucous. Stems 

 1-3 ft., erect, scaberulous. Leaves flat, upper sheaths inflated ; ligule large. 

 Panicle 1-1 in., ovoid or subcylindric, compact, pale green. Spikelets 

 nearly in. diam., orbicular; empty glumes membranous, acute, wings 

 broad, keel green, nerves 2, stout; fl. glume much shorter, silky, obscurely 

 nerved ; scales 2, lanceolate, acute. DISTRIB. Warm and temp. Europe, 

 N. Africa, W. Asia ; introd. in N. America. 



SECTION 2. Digra'phis, Trin. (gen.). Panicle contracted, interrupted. 

 Empty glumes hardly winged. 



