GRASS FAMILY. 357 



hard for a meadow grass : of many varieties, introduced from Europe ; spikeleta 

 4-8-flowered; lower palet either pointless or short-awned. 21 



T. vulg^re. Wheat. Spike dense, somewhat 4-sided; the spikelets' 

 crowded, 4 - 5-flowered, turgid ; glumes ventricose, blunt ; palet cither awncd 

 or awnless ; grain free. ® 



T. Sp61ta, Spelt. A grain rarely cult, in this country; ^\\.e flat, the 

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



Sec^e oereMe, Rvb. Tall ; spike as in wheat ; spikelets with only 2 per- 

 fect flowers ; glumes a little distant, bristly towards the base ; lower pdet ven- 

 tricose, long awned ; grain brown. 



•1- •<- ->- Glumes 6 at each joint, in front. of the 3 spihdets, fai-ming an involucre. 



Hdrdeum VUlg&,re, Common Baelet, 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-rowe» 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. ® 



H- ^- H- -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 ^ower, 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 froin Old World ; fl. late summer. ® 



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

 spike tawny yellow, dense ; long bristles 6 -;11 in a cluster, rough upwards (as 

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



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

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



S. ItAliea, or GermAnica, Italian Millet, Bengal Grass, &c. 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&nieum (Digit&,ria) sanguinkle, Finger-Grass or Crab-Grass. 

 Cliiefly a weed in cult, fields in late summer ami autumn, but useful in thin 

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

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



P. Crus-g^lli, Cock's-foot P., or Barntard-Geass. Common weedy 

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

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

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

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



P capilldre. 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 hollow, pithy, 



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

 one neutral or staminale flower. 

 ' * Without silky-down : glumes, Sfc. russet-brown, coriaceous. 



S6rglium vulg^re, Indian Millet, Dorka, or Doura, &c., from Africa 

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

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

 Sugae-Cane, Imphee, &c., cult, for the syrup of the stem; and Eroom-ooen, 

 for the well-known corn-brooms. ® 



