MACLOSKIE: GRAMINE/E. 



169 



Stipa. cal, callus ; g, empty 

 glume ; fg, floral glume ; cr, crown ; 

 /, pappus ; a, awn. A, S. pampeana. 

 (After Spegazzini.) B, C, S. capil- 

 lata. (After Hackel.) 



glume rigid convolute, having a hairy, often sharp, callus at its base, and a 

 bent apical awn which is spirally twisted below and articulated. Stamens 

 mostly 3. Grain free, closely surrounded by 

 the glume. (Brit. & Br. i, 137; also Spegaz- 

 zini, Stipece platenses.] (Fig. 31.) 



Species 100, cosmopolitan. 



The awn may be naked, or may have a 

 crown around its base (Fig. 31, A], often sur- 

 mounted by a pappus of villi or cilia (in section 

 PappopJwra], and there may be a callus be- 

 neath the grain (A, C}. S. capillata (Engl. 

 & Pr. Pflanzenf. II, 2, p. 46, fig. C-E) is the 

 chief grass of the Russian steppes ; its fruiting 

 awn pierces the skin of sheep, sometimes 

 killing them: similarly 6". spartea Trin., the 

 "porcupine-grass" of North America, and the 

 grass of North Queensland which annoyed 

 Captain Cook's seamen in 1770. In North 

 Africa, 5. tenacissima, called Esparto, Alfa, 

 and "false horse-hair," is extensively exported, being used in south- 

 ern Europe for plaiting into mats and chairs. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 

 A. Awn with long villi to the top. Lower glume exceeding 1 5 mm. long. Crown none. (/- 



lostypa.} 

 b. Lower glumella laxly hairy, not apically attenuate, 2-auricled. Awn 7 cm. long. Stamens 



2. Culm rigid. Panicle sheathed, hairy. pogonatliera. 



b2. Lower glumella glabrous, long-attenuate upwards, or rostrate. Awn naked on lowest 



fifth part. Panicle subsecund, smooth. Culm 20 cm., slender, hairy, necei. 

 Ai. Awn with long villi only below its joint. (Pappostipa?) Panicle contracted. 



b. Awn very long, with long pappus. Culm (35 cm.) and panicle sheathed. Leaves con- 

 volute to filiform, glabrous. vaginata. 

 &2. Awn with lower half nearly naked. Lower glume I -nerved, upper 3 -nerved. Lower 

 glumella attenuate, not auricled. Culm 1 2 cm., slender, glabrous. Panicle sheathed. 



humilis. 

 3. Awn more or less villous from base. Lower glumella scarcely attenuate, subtruncate, 2- 



auricled, pubescent. Lower glume 3-, upper 5 -nerved. 

 c. Culm 30 cm. Leaves rushlike, pungent. Sheath-margins villous. Panicle short. 



Awn long-villous from base. patagonica. 



c2. Culm 35 cm. ; leaves short, scabrid. Panicle spike-like. Sheath-margins glabrous. 

 Hairs of awn larger upwards. Glumella silky. speciosa. 



