GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 557 



26. DIARRHENA, Eaf. DIARRHENA. 



Spikelets several-flowered, smooth and shining, one or two of the uppermost 

 flowers sterile. Glumes ovate, much shorter than the flowers, coriaceous ; the 

 lower one much smaller. Lower palea ovate, convex on the back, rigidly cori- 

 aceous, its 3 nerves terminating in a strong and abrupt cuspidate or awl-shaped 

 tip. Squamulae ovate, ciliate. Stamens 2. Grain very large, obliquely ovoid, 

 obtusely pointed, rather longer than the paleae, the cartilaginous shining peri- 

 carp not adherent to the seed. A nearly smooth perennial, with running root- 

 stocks, producing simple culms (2 -3 high) with long linear-lanceolate flat 

 leaves towards the base, naked above, bearing a few short-pedicelled spikelets (f 

 long) in a very simple panicle. (Name composed of 8is, two, and apprjv, man, 

 from the two stamens.) 



1. I>. Americana, Beauv. (Eestuca diandra, Michx.) Shaded river- 

 banks and woods, Ohio to Illinois and southward. August. 



27. DACTYL.IS, L. COCK'S-FOOT or ORCHARD GRASS. 



Spikelets several-flowered, crowded in one-sided clusters, forming a branching 

 dense panicle. Glumes and lower palea herbaceous, keeled, awn-pointed, rough- 

 ciliate on the keel ; the 5 nerves of the latter converging into the awn-like point; 

 the upper glume commonly smaller and thinner. Stamens 3. Grain lance- 

 oblong, acute, free. Perennials: leaves keeled. (Name daKTv\is, a finger* 

 breadth, apparently in allusion to the size of the clusters.) 



1. I>. GLOMERATA, L. Rough, rather glaucous (3 high) ; leaves broadly 

 linear; branches of the panicle naked at the base; spikelets 3-4-flowered. 

 Fields and yards, especially in shade. June. Good for hay. (Nat. from Eu.) 



28. KCELERIA, Fers. KCBLERIA. 



Spikelets 3-7-flowered, crowded in a dense and narrow spike-like panicle. 

 Glumes and lower palea membranaceous, compressed-keeled, obscurely 3-nerved, 

 barely acute, or the latter often mucronate or bristle-pointed : the former moder- 

 ately unequal, nearly as long as the spikelet. Stamens 3. Grain free. Tufted 

 Grasses (allied to Dactylis and Poa), with simple upright culms ; the sheaths 

 often downy. (Named for Prof. Ktihler, an early writer on Grasses.) 



1. K. cristata, Pers. Panicle narrowly spiked, interrupted or lobed at 

 the base ; spikelets 2 - 4-flowered ; lower palea acute or mucronate ; leaves flat, 

 the lower sparingly hairy or ciliate. Var. GRAciLis, with a long and narrow 

 spike, the flowers usually barely acute. (K. nitida, Nvtt.) Dry hills, Penn. to 

 Illinois, thence northward and westward. (Eu.) 



29. E A T 6 N I A , Eaf. (KEUotLEA, Kunth, not of BadeK.) 



Spikelets usually 2-flowered, and with an abortive rudiment or pedicel, nu 



merous in a contracted or slender panicle, very smooth. Glumes somewhat 



equal in length, but very dissimilar, a little shorter than the flowers ; the lower 



narrowly linear, keeled, 1 -nerved; the upper broadly obovate, folded round the 



47* 



