Atra. ] GRAMINER (Stapf). 463 
XXVIII. AIRA, Linn. 
Spikelets small, laterally eee ch loosely panicled ; rhachilla 
disarticulating below and also between the valves, minutely produc 
beyond the upper floret. Florets 2, "3. Glumes aban me a 
kneed, twisted below; callus minute, glabrous or minutely hairy. 
Pales slightly shorter than the glumes, narrow, 2-toothed. Lodicules 
2, delicate. Stamens 3; anthers small. Ovary glabrous; styles 
short, distinet ; stigmas seasons laterally exserted near the base. 
Grain more or less adhering to its vaive and pale; hilum oblong, 
minute ; embryo suborbicular, 2 4-1 the length of the grain. 
Small annuals with slender stems and leaves and with delicate, usually open 
panicles. 
About 6 species, mainly in the Mediterranean region, 1 extending to tropical 
Africa and the Cape, and introduced into various parts of the world, 
. A. caryophyllea (Linn. Spec. Pl. 66); culms very slender, 
3-9 in. high, geniculate, glabrous, few-noded ; leaf-sheaths rather 
loose, minutely scaberulous ; ligules hyaline, lanceolate, up to 4 lin. 
long; blades usually subsetaeeous, convolute, the lowest up to 2 in. 
long, subscaberulous; panicle erect, ovate or obovate, 11-3 in. 
effuse 
the 1 lower awnless; awns 12~2 lin. long ; callus likes or 
ene hairy ; anthers 4-1 Foyer lo one 3 Apa 1 isu n. long, pos 
Fi nm. ii . HM. Be 173 
Pi. Glum. i. 221; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 128; Durand & 
Schinz, Consp. FL Afr. v. 884; Schweinf. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 
ii. App. ii rs # 
Coast Recion: Cape Div.; Devils Mountain, Ecklon, 946! Wilms, 3880 ! 
bushes near Nouhs-Ark, Wolley Dod, 2953! Simons Bay, Wright! Paarl hie 
- 5, Hotta eyher. Caledon 
Uitnkes me a ; Little Brak iver, Burchell 618 a 
nha y “! 
MacOwan, iso7i Zwartkops River, ae My ! Albany Div. rahamsto 
editerranea nd Cameroon Peak ; else- 
hers as a region, Central Europe, Abyssinia a 
