GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 569 



spikes ; glum;s 2, transverse. Open grounds and salt licks, Illinois (Mead), 

 and westward. Aug. 



42. L6L.IUM, L. DARNEL. 



Spikelets many-flowered, solitary on each joint of the continuous rhachis, 

 placed edgewise ; the glume, except in the terminal spikelet, only one and exter- 

 nal: otherwise chiefly as in Trificum. (The ancient Latin name.) 



1. Li. PERENNE, L. (COMMON DARNEL,. RAY- or RYE-GRASS.) Glume 

 much shorter than the spikelet ; flowers 6-9, awnless, rarely awn-pointed. 1J. 

 Meadows and lots; eastward. June. A pretty good pasture-grass. (Nat. 

 from Eu.) 



2. Li. TEMULENTUM, L. (BEARDED DARNEL.) Glume fully equalling the 

 5-7-flowered spikelet; awn longer than the flower (' long). (I) Grain-fields, 

 Massachusetts and Penn. : rare. Grain noxious ; almost the only such instance 

 among Grasses. (Adv. from Eu.) 



43. TRITICUM, L. WHEAT. 



Spikelets 3 - several-flowered, single at each joint, and placed with the side 

 against the rhachis. Glumes transverse (i. e. right and left), nearly equal and 

 opposite, herbaceous, nerved. Lower palea very like the glumes, convex on the 

 back, pointed or awned from the tip : the upper flattened, bristly-ciliate on the 

 nerves, free, or adherent to the groove of the grain. Stamens 3. (The classical 

 name, probably from tritus, beaten, because the grain is threshed out of the 

 spikes.) The true species are annuals, with the glumes ovate-oblong and ven- 

 tricose-boat-shaped, as in common Wheat (T. VULGARE). Others are perennial, 

 with nearly lanceolate acute or pointed glumes, and 2-ranked spikes, never fur- 

 nishing bread-corn ( AGROPYRON, Gsertn.) ; to which the following belong. 



1. T. repens, L. (COUCH-GRASS. QUITCH-GRASS. QUICK-GRASS.) 

 Rootstocks creeping extensively ; spikelets 4 - 8-flowered ; glumes 5 - 7-nerved ; 

 rhachis glabrous, but rough on the angles ; awn none, or not more than half the 

 length of the flower ; leaves flat, roughish or hairy above. Var. NEMORALE, An- 

 derson. Brighter green; palese pretty long-awned ; spike slender. Open 

 grounds, northward : principally in meadows and cultivated grounds, where it is 

 naturalized (from Europe) and very troublesome, multiplying rapidly and widely 

 by its creeping slender rootstocks. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



2. T. caninum, L. (AWNED WHEAT-GRASS.) No creeping rootstock ; 

 spikelets 4 - 5-flowered ; glumes 3 - 5-nerved ; rhachis very rough ; awn longer 

 than the smooth flower ; leaves flat, rovLghish. Woods and banks, W. New York 

 to Wisconsin, and northward. Also sparingly naturalized in fields. (Eu.) 



3. T. dasystadiyiim. Culm (l-3 high, from a strong creeping root- 

 stock) and narrow mostly involute leaves very smooth and glaucous; spikelets downy- 

 hairy all over, whitish, 5 - 9-flowered ; glumes 5 - 7-nerved ; rhachis rough on the 

 edges ; uwn sometimes about half the length of the flower, sometimes nearly 

 wanting. (T. repens, var. dasystachyum, Hook.) Sandy shores of Lakes Hu- 

 ron and Superior, and northward. Aug. 



48* 



