143 



Fig. 112. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene. ALK 4LI-GRASS.— a, A staminate 

 spikelet: b, flowering glume; c, palea: d, a pistillate spikelet; e, flowering glume 

 from a floret of the same; /, palea from same. Fig. 532 in Bui. 17 illustrates 

 another species of Distichlis. 



112. DISTICHLIS Raf. Journ. Phys. 89 : 104. 1819. Spikelets 8- to 16-flowered, 

 dioecious. Empty glumes at the base of the spikelets 2, carinate, acute, shorter 

 than the flowering glumes; flowering glumes broader, 3- to many-nerved, acute, 

 rigid, membranaceous or subcoriaceous. Palea 2-keeled, equaling or a little 

 shorter than the glumes. Stamens in the male flower 3. Styles in the pistillate 

 flowers thickened at the base, rather long, distinct; stigmas plumose, protrud- 

 ing from the apex of the floret. Grain closely enveloped in the thickened and 

 coriaceous base of the palea. Spikelets usually more numerous in the stami- 

 nate than in the pistillate plants, and less crowded. Rather rigid, erect grasses, 

 springing from a decumbent or creeping base, with dense panicles of rather few, 

 large and usually compressed spikelets. 



Species 4 or 5, along the coast and on the alkaline plains in extra tropical 

 North and South America, one of which extends to Australia. 



