GENERA OF GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



223 



115. AXONOPUS Beauv. 

 (Anastrophus Schlecht.) 



Spikelets depressed biconvex, not turgid, oblong, usually obtuse, 

 solitary, sessile, and alternate, in two rows on one side of a 3-angled 



rachis, the back of the fertile lemma turned 

 from the axis ; first glume wanting ; second 

 glume and sterile lemma equal, the lemma 

 without a palea; fertile lemma and palea 

 indurate, the lemma oblong-elliptic, usually 

 obtuse, the margins slightly inrolled. 



Stoloniferous or tufted perennials, rarely 

 annuals, with usually flat or folded, ab- 

 ruptly rounded or.somewhat pointed blades, 

 and few or numerous, slender, spikelike 

 racemes, digitate or racemose along the 

 main axis. Species about 30, tropical 

 America, 1 or 2 introduced into the 

 Tropics of the Old World; 2 species in 

 the United States, in moist 

 soil in the Southeastern 

 States. 



Type species: Milium compres- 

 sitm Swartz. 



Axonopus Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 

 12, 154. 1812. Beauvois mentions 

 several diverse species that be- 

 long to his new genus, the first 

 being Milium compressum, which 



FIG. 134. Brachiaria platyphulla. Plant, X \ ; two views of spikelet and fertile floret, 



X 10. 



