540 GRAMINEJ;. 



Glumes laterally compressed, upper sterile one awned, fertile mucronate. Stigmas project- 

 ing below the summit of the flowers. Pericarp utricular. — Creeping or diffuse annuals ; 

 leaves _^«<, jfdlose below ; spikes 2-5, short, thicHsh. 



59. D. ee^ptiacum, W. Spikelets 2-4-flowered, densely imbricate below the naked 

 point of the axis ; sterile glumes scabrous on the keel : superior about as long as its recurved 

 awn.— JHffl. Ic. t. 69.— D. mucronatum, Tf.— Spikes 6"'-13"' long.— Hab. Bahamas!, 

 Hjalm. ; Jamaica 1, Jl. ; S. Kitts !, His., Antigua !, Wullsc/iL, Dominica !, Imr., S. Vin- 

 cent !, Guild. ; Trinidad 1, Cr. ; [Calabria ! and Arabia ! to the Cape I ; China to East In- 

 dies ! and Australia ! ; United States to Brazil !]. 



7^ 29. ELEUSINE, G. 



Character of Dactyloctenium, but glumes awnless, bluntish-acuminate, the sterile mem- 

 branaceous at the margin. — Annuals ; leaves ^a^; spikes 2-5(-l). 



' 60. E. indica, G. Stems compressed ; spikes slender, greenish : axis narrow ; flowers 

 lanceolate. — pin. Ic. t. 71. — Spikes usually 2" long, one often distant from the fascicle. — 



, Hab. Jamaica I, all coll. ; Antigua !, Wullschl., Dominica !, Imr., S. Vincent !, Guild. ; 

 Trinidad I, Sch., Cr. ; [Persia ! to the Cape ! and East Indies I ; Canary islands ! ; Canada I to 



l£Buenos Ayres ! ; Pacific islands !]. ' 



X 30. CYNODON, Rich. 



Character of Meusine, but spikelets 1-flowered, and a " caryopsis." — Creeping, low peren- 

 nials, leafy below with short leaves; ligule ciliate ; spikes 2-6 (-9). 



^ 61! C. Dactylon, Pers. Spikes divergent: axis narrow, 3-gonal; flower ovate, 

 longer than the filiform rudiment and the sterile glumes. — Sibth. Fl. Grcec. t. 60. — Pani- 

 cum, i. — Hab. Bahamas; Jamaica!, Macf., Wils.; Antigua!, Wullschl.; [tropical and 

 warmer countries of the temperate zones throughout the globe]. 



Tribe II. PANICS^, R. Br. — Fertile glume placed above the second sterile glume of 

 the spikelet; rhachis mostly not produced above it. — Sterile glumes usually 3. Stigmas 

 projecting below or at the summit of the flower. Embryo large. 



SuBTKiBE I. PASPALBJB. — Fertile flower cartilaginous, leathery, or chartaceous ; 

 exterior sterile glumes herbaceous or membranaceous. 



31. THRASYA, Kth. 



Spikelets biconvex, sessile, alternately unisei-fel along the midrib of the indnplicate sheath- 

 ing axis, in a simple one-sided spike. Lowest glume minute or abortive, second supporting 

 the fertile flower : third (J, divided into 2 distinct collateral leaflets, and furnished with a 

 palea. Fertile flowers chartaceous, awnless. — Slender, OBespitose grasses ; spike slightly in- 

 curved: a^ herbaceous : series of spikelets alternating mth the fertile floteers placed 

 against the axis or averted from it. 



62. T. hirsuta, 'Ss. Leaves pilose ; axis long ciliate, twice as broad as the ovate-lan- 

 ceolate exserted spikelets ; lowest glume minute, second exceeding half the $ flower ; both 

 flowers 3-androus.— iftt. RA. t. 102. Trin. Ic. t. 151.— Pauicnm thrasyoides, Tr.—V-%' 

 high; spikes li"-W long. — Hab. Trinidad!, dr., in savannahs ; [Brazil]. 



</ 32. PASPALUM, L. 



Spikelets flat on the ventral, convex on the dorsal side, imbricated on one side of the axis, 

 in spiciform racemes or spikes. Sterile glumes 3, but lowest abortive or usually wholly 

 wanting. Flower awnless, cartilaginous, flat convex. — Root usually perennial; spikelets 

 Z-i-stichous, usuaXly rounded. 



In those species in which a rudimentary lower glume is developed (e. g. in P. decumbens 

 and often in P. distichum), no character is left to distinguish Paspalum from Digitaria but 

 the habit and a slight difference in the fertile glume. 



