Kceleria. GRAMINE^. 301 



so, and usually excurrent as brief awns or points, the central one distinctly exserted. 

 Upper palet much shorter, 2-toothed and ciliate-margined. Stamens 3. Scales 2, 

 truncate or emarginate. Stigmas elongated, plumose. Grain oblong, smooth, free. 



A o'enus of which there are 4 or 5 species in tlie Eastern States, and a much hw'^ev numher belong 

 to the flora of Texas and Mexico. The species are in much confusion, and have been placed under 

 Uralcpis, IViadsoria, Triplasis, Trichodia, and other genera. 



1. T. pulchella, Torr. Low tufted annual or biennial, the crowded wiry culms 

 2 to 6 inches high, fasciculately branched above : leaves setaceously convolute, cus- 

 pidate, rigid, scabrous ; sheaths short, open, striate, with wide scarious margins and 

 villous at the nodes ; ligide a ciliate fringe ; radical leaves crowded, an inch long, the 

 upper less tlian half as long, some reduced to 2 or 3 lines in length and appearing 

 like large awned glumes : panicle of ab:)Ut 3 spikelets, 4 or 5 lines long and 6 - 7- 

 flowerecf : glumes white, acuminate or subulate-pointed, broad, the upper slightly 

 exceeding the lower and the florets : lower palet about 2 lines long, white, densely 

 silky-villous to near the middle, deeply bitid, with a strong awn slightly exceeding 

 the obtuse lobes : lobes unequally divided by the light green scarcely excurrent lat- 

 eral nerves, which are somewhat villous above. — Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 15G. Triodia 

 pulchella, HBK. Nov. Gen. i. 155, t. 47. Uralepis indchella, Kunth, Enum. i. 318, 

 and Suppl. 274. 



Fort Mohave ( Cooper) ; on the Colorado at various places, Newberry. Very common in Arizona 

 and Northern Mexico, covering large patches of the most sterile ground, and extending eastward 

 to Utah, New Mexico and Western Texas. 



42. DACTYLIS, Linn. Orchard Gkass. 



Panicle sometimes dense, usually branched and one-sided, bearing thick crowded 

 one-sided clusters at the ends of its short branches. Spikelets 3 - many-flowered, 

 the uppermost imperfect. Glumes herbaceous, the lower smaller and 1-nerved, tlie 

 upper 3-nerved. Lower palet keeled, its 5 nerves converging to an awn-like point. 

 Stamens 3. Scales 2,- with an acute marginal tooth. Styles short, with plumose 

 stigmas. Grain lance-oblong, free. 



A genus of few species, or perhaps only a single one. 



1. D. glomerata, Linn. Perennial, the culms forming at length large dense 

 tufts 2 to 3 feet high, with broadly linear rough and somewhat glaucous leaves and 

 scabrous sheaths : panicle 1 to 6 inches long, sometimes purplish, its branches hori- 

 zontal in flower, erect in fruit : spikelets about 3 lines long, the glumes and lower 

 palet ciliate on the keel. — lieichenb. Icon. Flor. Germ. t. 147 ; Nees, Gen. t. 65. 



Fields, etc., Bolandcr ; introduced. As Orchard-Grass in this country and Cocksfoot-Grass in 

 England, this is highly valued as a meadow grass, and its cultivation is increasing. A native of 

 the Old Worid. 



43. KCELERIA, Pers. 



Panicle dense and spike-like, cylindrical, often interrupted beloAV. Spikelets 

 compressed, 3-7-flowered. Glumes membranaceous, the upper longer and 3-5- 

 nerved, nearly equalling the florets. Lower palet membranaceous, keeled, 3-nerved, 

 acutish, sometimes mucronate or bristle-pointed. Upper palet bihd or 2-toothed. 

 Stamens 3. Scales 2, obliquely truncate. Styles short, with broadly plumose stig- 

 mas. Grain plano-convex, free. 



A small genus, the numher of species being estimated at 8 or 10, though over 30 have been 

 described ; mostly natives of temperate regions. 



1. K. cristata, Pers. Perennial, with slender culms 1 to 2 feet high or more 

 from a dense tutt of radical leaves, which with those of the culm are mostly convo- 



