108 



FIG. 82. Eleusine indica (L.) Gsertn. GOOSE- or YARD-GRASS.— a, A portion 

 of the axis of a spike bearing 3 spikelets, one of which is terminal; 6, a single 

 spikelet; c, a floret; d, the seed. 



82. ELEUSINE Gsertn. Fruct, et Sem. I: 7, t. 1. 1788. Spikelets several- 

 flowered, sessile, and closely imbricated in 2 rows along 1 side of a continuous 

 rhachis, which does not project beyond the terminal spikelet; rachilla articu- 

 lated above the empty glumes. Glumes compressed, keeled, thin, but rigid, 

 obtuse, the 1st 2 and sometimes the uppermost 1 empty. Palea a little shorter 

 than the glume, compressed, bicarinate. Seed finely striated and inclosed 

 within a thin pericarp. Coarse-tufted annuals, with the rather stout unilateral 

 spikes digitate or approximate at the apex of the culm. 



Species 5 or 6, in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. E. cora- 

 cana is valued in Africa, India, and some other eastern countries as a cereal. 

 The species here illustrated is a common weed in all the warmer countries of 

 the world. 



