137 



Fig. 106. Catabrosa aquatica (L.) Beauv. WATER WHORL-GRASS.— a, A 

 2-flowered spikelet; b, a spikelet with 1 floret; c, the outer empty glumes; d, a 

 single floret. 



106. CATABROSA Beauv. Agrost. 97. 1812. Spikelets small, usually 2-flow- 

 ered, hermaphrodite, with the rachilla articulated between the florets. Empty 

 glumes 2, much shorter than the flowering glumes, unequal, scarious, very 

 obtuse, or the upper crenulate at the apex; flowering glumes rather rigid or 

 subcoriaceous, obtuse or 3-toothed at the apex, prominently 3-nerved, awnless; 

 palea as long as the glumes, prominently 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct; 

 stigmas plumose. A creeping aquatic grass, with flat leaves, and open pyram- 

 idal panicles on ascending branches. 



Species 1, in the cooler regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. 



