368 



POAf'E.E. 



like panicle or hoail, rachilla articulate above the lower glumes, 

 sleiidor, ])ro(lucotl above the perfecit floret. Empty glumes 2, 

 linnar, clothed with ttne hairs; iloral glume unvvosv, smooth,' 

 delicately membranous, termimitiug iu 2 sleiuler awns, and bearing 

 a long bent and twisted awn below the ai)ex; palea luirrow, liyaline, 

 '.'-keeled. Stamens ;5. Styles short, tlistinct. Grain narrow', 

 scarcely eiu-losed by the glume and palea. 



A soft annual grass with short Hat blades. 



Species 1. found in western and southwestern Europe and 

 northern Africa. 



1. L. ovATfs L. 1, c. IIauk's-tail Grass. 



Culms 15--35 cm. high, pubescent, branching below. Sheaths 

 soft, inflated; ligule pubescent, 1-1.5 mm. long. Spikes whitish, 

 2-4: cm. long. Em])ty glumes threadlike, plumose, S-10 mm. long- 

 floral glume 3.5 mm. long, bristles of the same length; the awn 

 2-4 times as long as its glume. 



Often cultivated for ornament. 



Teibe IX.— AVENEJE. 



Spik.'lets 2- to several-flowered (1-flowered in Ammpoqon), 

 flowers pei-fect or one of them staminate, in open or spikelike" pan- 

 icles. Empty glumes often persistent, usually longer than the 

 florets; rachilla bearing tufts of hairs under the floral glumes and 

 usually produced above the upper one; awn of the floral glume dor- 

 sal, or near the apex between the lobes, more or less twisted and 

 bent; palea 2-keeled. Style short or none; stigmas feathery. 

 Gram furrowed with embi-yo small, enclosed iu the floral glume 

 and palea, adluirent to the i)alea or free. 



This ti-ibe has been very generally recognized and very little 

 modifled for a long time past. 



A. Spikelets 2-flowercd. rachilla not prolonged 74 



B. Spikelets 2- to several-flowered, rachilla prolonged above 



the u])per flower ,s 



a. Spikelets deciduous as a whole, 2-flowered, lower one 



perfe(;t, awnless, ui)per one awned, usually staminate. 73 



