14 



Tribe XII.— Hordece. 



Spikelets one- to many-flowered, usually hermaphrodite, sessile 

 along the common rachis, forming a simple or compound spike ; 1 

 glumes awned or awnless. 



A small tribe of twenty genera and about one hun- 

 dred and thirty species. It is an important division, 

 however, for it includes rye, barley, and the many vari- 

 eties of wheat. English and Italian Eye-grasses (Lolium 

 species) are the chief meadow grasses of the tribe. 



Nardus Linn.* Secale Linn. 



Lolium Linn.* Triticum Linn. 



Lepturus R. Br. Hordeum Linn.* 



Scribneria Hack." Elymus Linn.* 



Agropyron Gaertn. Asperella H11111L.* 



Tribe XIIL— Bambut>ea . 



Spikelets two- to many-flowered (rarely only one-flowered) in 

 racemes or panicles; empty glumes at the base of the spikelet 

 two to several; flowering glumes many-nerved, awnless, or very 

 rarely short-awned; culms woody, at least near the base, and 

 perennial; leaf blade usually with a short petiole articulated 

 with the sheath from which it finally separates. 



A comparatively small tribe of twenty-three genera 

 and about one hundred and eighty-five species. The 

 species are confined chiefly to the region within the 

 Tropics. Many of them are of very great importance to 

 the natives of the countries where they grow. Manu- 

 factured articles of bamboo, either of use or for orna- 

 ment, are now a part of the commerce of the world. The 

 bamboos are remarkable for their woody stems and often 

 arborescent or tree-like habit of growth, some of the 



1 Strictly the spike is simple when the sessile spikelets are one- 

 flowered, and compound when they are more than one-flowered. 



