99 



Fig. 73. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Capriola dactylon Kuntze; Panicum 

 dactylon L.) . BERMUDA-GRASS.— o, A spikelet; b, the same with the outer or 

 empty glumes removed, showing the raehilla b'. 



73. CYNODON Pers. 1805. Spikelets I-flowered, awnless, sessile in 2 rows 

 along one side of a slender, continuous axis, forming unilateral spikes; raehilla 

 articulated above the empty glumes and prolonged behind the palea of the 

 hermaphrodite floret into a slender, naked bristle. Glumes 3, the 1st two nar- 

 row, keeled, usually acute, empty; the 3d or floral glume broader and usually 

 a little longer than the empty ones, obtuse, more or less pilose on the keel and 

 at the margins. Palea about the length of its glume, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. 

 Styles distinct. Grain free within the fruiting glume and palea. Low, creep- 

 ing perennials, with short flat leaves and slender spikes digitate at the apex 

 of the upright branches. 



Species 4, one distributed throughout the tropical and warmer temperate 

 regions of the world, the others South American and Australian. 



