23 



Fig. 12. Elionurus barbicuimis Hack.— a, A pair of spikelets, one sessile, the 

 other pedicellate; b, the pedicellate spikelet; c, first glume of the sessile spikelet; 

 d, second glume of same; e, third glume; /, fourth or flowering glume; g, pistil 

 showing lodicules. Another species of this genus is shown in fig. 308 of Bui. 17. 



12. ElilONTJRUS H. & B. in Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 941. 1805. Spikelets nearly as in 

 Andropogon, 1-fiowered, awnless. First empty glume rigid or subcoriaceous, 2- 

 toothed at the apex, margins inflexed, more or less densely ciliate, with balsam- 

 bearing lines between the side keels; 2d glume a little shorter than the 1st, 

 acute; the 3d glume empty, and, like the terminal flowering glume, very deli- 

 cate and hyaline. Palea minute, or none. Stamens 3. Styles distinct; stigmas 

 plumose. Low or tall annual or perennial grasses, with rather rigid leaves, 

 and solitary, terminal racemes. The spikelets have a strong balsam-like odor 

 when fresh or after soaking in water, and a sharp, pungent taste. 



Species about 15, natives of tropical and subtropical America, Africa, western 

 India, and Australia; 2 species in the United States, southern and southwestern. 



