GRASS FAMILY. 473 



in each splkelet, the uppermost generally imperfect ; seed loose, propor- 

 tionally large, rough-wrinkled ; glumes and palets pointless. 



E. &gyptiaca, Pers. EGYPTIAN GRASS. Yards and fields, chiefly a 

 weed, S. ; creeping over the ground, low ; spikes dense and thickish ; 

 glumes flattened laterally and keeled, one of them awn-pointed, the 

 lower one awned. Both from the Old World. 



Agropyrum repens, Beauv. COUCH, QDACK, QUITCH, or QUICK GRASS. 

 Spreads amazingly by its vigorous, long, running rootstocks, is a pest 

 in cultivated fields, and is too coarse and hard for a meadow grass ; 

 2-3 high ; many forms, introduced from Eu. ; spikelets 4-8-flowered ; 

 flowering glume either pointless or shorl^awned ; glumes a pair to the sin- 

 gle spikelet, right and left at each joint of the rhachis. ^ 



4- H- Spikelets in a contracted panicle or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 what on one side of the rhachis / each with a single, perfect flower, its 

 palets of coriaceous or cartilaginous texture ; by the side of it are either 

 one or two thin glumes of a sterile, usually neutral flower. 



+< One or many slender bristles at the base of each spikelet. 



Setdria glatica, Beauv. FOXTAIL, PIGEON GRASS. In stubble and cul- 

 tivated grounds, low ; spike tawny yellow, dense ; long bristles 6-11 in a 

 cluster, rough upwards ; perfect flower wrinkled crosswise. Eu. 



5. viridis, Beauv. GREEN FOXTAIL, BOTTLE GRASS. Has less dense and 

 greener spike, fewer bristles, rough upwards, and perfect flower striate 

 lengthwise. Eu. Common. (I) Thought by some to be the parent of 

 Hungarian Grass (see III.). 



S. verticillata, Beauv. Spike cylindrical and pale green, with appar- 

 ently whorled spikelets or clusters ; bristles single or in pairs and rough 

 downwards. Eu. Not common. 



w- -w- No bristles at the base of the spikelets. 



P&nicum sanguindle, Linn. FINGER GRASS or CRAB GRASS. Chiefly a 

 weed in cult, fields and about yards in late summer and autumn, but use- 

 ful in thin grounds S. for hay ; herbage reddish ; spikes 4-15, slender, 

 digitate, nearly 1-sided ; spikelets seemingly 1-flowered, the upper empty 

 glume half the length of the flower, the lower one small ; Eu. (f) 



P. glabrum, Gaudin. More prostrate and lower ; spikes 2-6, widely 

 spreading ; upper empty glume equaling the flower, but the lower one 

 almost wanting. Waste lands, commonest S. Eu. 



P. Crus-g6lli, Linn. COCK'SFOOT, BARNYARD GRASS. Common, weedy 

 grass of barnyards and low, rich grounds ; coarse, with rather broad leaves, 

 and numerous, seeming spikes along the naked summit of the flowering 

 stems, often forming a sort of panicle ; spikelets with one fertile and one 

 sterile flower, the glume of the latter bearing a rough awn. Eu. 



Phdlar/s Canariensis, Linn. CANARY GRASS. Cult, from Eu. for 

 canary seed, and running wild in some waste places ; l-2 high, with 

 the panicle contracted into a sort of oblong spike ; the glumes with wing- 

 like keels ; and a little scale or rudimentary, sterile flower at the base. 

 ^_ .|_ ^_ Spikelets 15, inclosed in a globular and spiny bur or involucre. 



C^nchrus tribuloldes, Linn. BUR GRASS, HEDGEHOG GRASS. A low, 

 spreading grass along the seashore and Great Lakes, and in sandy places ; 

 spike composed of 8-20 spherical, prickly heads or burs which detach 

 easily and adhere to clothing. (J) 



VI. ORNAMENTAL GRASSES, regularly cultivated in gardens. 

 * Annual (or biennial) grasses grown for use in dried' flower bouquets, or 

 one cult, for curiosity. (Feather Grass, in * * * may be sought here.) 

 *- Spikelets compact and mostly large, oblong or ovate-shaped, hanging. 

 Srdmus unioMdes, HBK. (CERATOCHLOA PENDULA). Rather stout 



