GEASS FAMILY. 857 



hard for a meadow grass : of many Tarieties, introduced from Europe ; spikeletg 

 4- 8-flowered ; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. ^ 



T. vulg^re. Wheat. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided; the spikelets 

 crowded, 4- 5-flowered, turgid; glumes ventricose, blunt; palet either awned 

 or awnless ; grain free. ® 



T. Spdlta, Spelt. A grain rarely cult, in this country; spike flat, the 

 rhachis fragile, breaking up at the joints ; grain enclosed in the palets. ® 



Secdle ceredle, Ete. Tall ; spike as in wheat; spikelets with only 2 per- 

 fect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards the base ; lower p^et ven- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. 



•1- ■<- -1- Glumes 6 at each joint, in front of the S spikelets, forming an involucre. 



Hdrdeum VXllgkve, Common Barley, from the Old "World : spike 

 dense, the 3 spikelets at each joint of the rhachis all with a fertile flower, its 

 lower palet long-awned. (T) 



H. distichum. Two-rowed Barley, from Tartary : only one spikelet 

 at each joint of the rhachis with a fertile flower, the two lateral spikelets being 

 reduced to sterile rudiments, the flowers therefore two-rowed in the spike. ® 



■I- -I- •!- -1- Spikelets in a contracted panicle or seeming spike, or if spiked some- 

 what on one side of the rhachis : each with a single perfect flower, its palets 

 of coriaceous or cartilaginous texture : by the side of it are either one or two 

 thin palets of a sterile usually neutral flower. 



Set^ia, Foxtail-Grass. Spikelets in clusters on the branches of the 

 contracted spike-like panicle or seeming spike, these continued beyond them 

 into awn-like rough bristles ; but no awns from the spikelets themselves. 

 Weeds, or the last one cult. ; all from Old World ; fl. late summer. . ® 



S. glatica, Common Foxtail : in all stubble and cultivated grounds ; low ; 

 spike tawny yellow, dense ; long bristles 6 - H in a cluster, rough upwards (as 

 also all the following) ; palets of perfect flower wrinkled crosswise. 



S. viridis, Green Foxtail or Bottle-Grass ; has less dense and green 

 spike, fewer bristles, and palets of perfect flower striate lengthwise. 



S. It&lica, or GermInica, Italian Millet, Bengal Grass, &o. Cult, 

 for fodder, 3' - 5' high, with rather large leaves, a compound or interrupted so- 

 called spike, which is evidently a contracted panicle, sometimes 6' - 9' long and 

 nodding when ripe; bristles short and few in a cluster; palets of the fertile 

 flower smooth. 



P^nicum. (Digit^ria) sanguiu&le, Finger-Grass or Crab-Grass. 

 Chiefly a weed in cult, fields in late summer and autumn, but usefal in thin 

 grounds S. for hay; herbage reddish; spikes 4-15, slender, digitate, nearly 

 1-sided ; spikelets seemingly l-flowercd with 3 glumes ; no awns. ® 



P. Crus-g^Ui, Cock's-foot P., or Barnyard-Grass. Common weedy 

 grass, of moist barnyards and low rich grounds : coarse, with rather broad leaves, 

 and numerous seeming spikes along the niiked summit of the flowering stems, 

 often forming a sort of panicle ; spikelets containing one fertile and one sterile 

 flower, the lower palet of the latter bearing a coarse rough awn. ® 



P capUl^e, Witch Grass of stubble and corn-fields in autumn, having 

 a very open capillary panicle, would be sought under another division ; it is a 

 mere weed. ® 



B. Stems not hoUow, pithy. 



§ 1. Spikelets clustered or scattered in an ample panicle, each with one perfect and 

 one neutral or staminate flower. 



« Without silky-down : glumes, ^c. russet-broum, coriaceous. 

 S6rghaiU VUlg&re, Indian Millet, Durra, or Doitra, &c., from Africa 

 or India; the var. cernuum, Guinea Corn, has densely contracted panicle, 

 and is cult, for the grain. Var. sacchakAtum, Sweet Sorghum, Chinese 

 Sugar-Cane, Imphee, &c., cult, for the syrup of the stem; and Broom-corn, 

 for the well-known corn-brooms. ® 



