204 BULLETIN 1772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Phalaris canariensis L. (fig. 121), canary grass, is an annual with 
ovoid heads, the large spikelets white with green nerves. This species 
-is introduced from Europe, where it is grown for seed, which fur- 
nishes the canary seed of commerce.t Phalaris caroliniana Walt., a 
perennial of the southern United States, with oblong compact heads, 
is sometimes cultivated for winter forage. 
9. ORYZEAE, THE RICE TRIBE. 
102. Oryza L. 
Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally compressed, disarticulating be- 
low the glumes; glumes 2, much shorter than the lemma, narrow; 
lemma rigid, keeled, 3-nerved, sometimes awned; palea similar to the 
lemma, narrower, keeled, but with no midnerve on the back, 2-nerved 
close to the margins. 5 
Annual or sometimes perennial swamp grasses, often tall, with flat 
blades and spikelets in open panicles. Species about seven, one in 
tropical America, the others in tropical Africa and Asia. 
Type species: Oryza sativa L. 
Oryza L., Sp. Pl. 388, 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 155. 1754. A single species, O. 
sativa, is described. 
The only important species is Oryza sativa L. (fig. 122), or rice. 
This is cultivated in all tropical and warm countries and is one of the 
important food plants of the world. There are a large number of 
varieties, some with awned, some with awnless spikelets. In the 
United States rice is grown under irrigation on the lowland along 
the Atlantic coast of the Southern States, especially in South Caro- 
lina and Georgia, and more extensively along the Mississippi River 
in Louisiana and on the prairies of southwestern Louisiana and 
southeastern Texas. 
103. HomaLoceENcHRUS Mieg. 
(Leersia Swartz.) 
Spikelets 1-flowered, strongly compressed laterally, disarticulating 
from the pedicel; glumes wanting; lemma chartaceous, broad, ob- 
long, boat shaped, usually 5-nerved, the lateral pair of nerves close 
to the margins, these and the keel often hispid-ciliate, the interme- 
diate nerves sometimes faint; palea as long as the lemma, much nar- | 
rower, usually 3-nerved, the keel usually hispid-ciliate, the lateral 
nerves close to the margins, the margins firmly held by the margins 
of the lemma; stamens six or fewer. 
Perennial grasses, usually with creeping rhizomes, with flat, sca- 
brous blades and open panicles, the spikelets nearly sessile along one 
iThe commercial seed may also contain seed of Panicum miliacewm. The seed of 
Phalaris canariensis is pale yellow, equally convex on both sides, compressed, and some- 
what pubescent. The seed of Panicum miliaceum is brownish or reddish, much more 
plump, dorsally flattened on one side, smooth, and faintly nerved. 
