oe 
Tribe IX.—AVENE. 
Spikelets 2-to several-flowered; outer empty glumes usually 
apex; awn usually twisted or geniculate; the callus, and usually the 
joints of the rachilla, hairy. 
tribe comprising 23 genera and over 300 species, 
widely distributed in the temperate regions of both 
the Old and the New World, particularly abundant 
in South Africa and Australia, a few extending beyond 
the arctic circle. 
Several of the species are of economic value as for- 
age plants. Tall meadow oat-grass (Arrhenatherum 
—elatiws (Li.)) and Velvet grass or mesquite, as it is 
known in Oregon and Washington, both introduced 
from Europe, are grasses of much agricultural value, 
especially the first named. Tufted hair-grass (De- 
schampsia cospitosa (L.)), a common grass in the 
ocky Mountain region of the Northwest, is of some 
local value as a forage plant, especially for low wet soils. 
Cultivated oats, Avena sativa, used largely in the South 
and on the Pacific coast for pasturage and hay, and gen- 
erally as a grain or cereal, is the best-known example 
of this tribe. 
KEY TO THE GENERA OF THE AVENE. 
—_ 
. Rachilla not prolonged behind the palea of the age ret, 
both flowers hermaphrodite 
. apenen Eiht spikelets 2-to sovesi Rowen” wi 
2 
— 
te 
. a. articulated with the pedicels below the outer glumes; 
rst floret hermaphrodite and awnless, the secon ee stami- 
and awned 65. us 
Spikelets ee articulated with the pedicels below arg pe 
glumes 3 
bo 
. Awns dorsal 4 
. Awns from between the teeth or divisions of the ein glume 
and flattened near the base 72. DaNTHONIA 
oo ce 
