GRASSES 



GRASSES 



371 



sandy seashore of Europe and America. Spikelets 

 one-flowered, rather large and chartaceous ; rachilla 

 prolonged as a bristle behind the palea. Inflores- 

 cence a narrow, spike-like panicle. 



arenaria. Link. Beach-grass. (Fig. 537.) A 

 coarse perennial with rigid culms, long, tough, 

 involute leaves and extensively creeping root- 

 stocks, native along the sandy shores of the Great 

 Lakes and on the Atlantic coast as far south as 

 North Carolina. Much used in Europe to bind shift- 

 ing sand, and recently used for the same purpose 

 in this country, notably at Golden Gate Park, San 

 Francisco, and on Cape Cod. Propagated by trans- 

 planting young plants. [For further information, see 

 United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, Bulletins Nos. 57 and 65.] 



18. Agrostis (Greek name for a kind of grass). 

 A genus of grasses including about one hundred 

 species, mostly perennials, distributed over the 

 entire globe in the cooler parts. Spikelets one-flow- 

 ered, the lemma shorter than the glumes and often 

 awned from the back ; palea small or wanting. In- 

 florescence a panicle, varying from contracted and 

 spike-like to very open and diffuse. 



alba, Linn. Red -top. (Fig. 538.) An upright 

 perennial with short rootstocks and moderately 

 open and spreading panicles. Palea one-half to 

 two-thirds as long as the lemma. This species is 

 variable. One form (var. vvlgaris, Thurb.; A. vul- 

 garis, With.) is more tufted and has more delicate 

 culms and panicles. This form is more frequently 

 found in lawns and open woods. It is sometimes 

 awned. A variety of A. alba, with more contracted 

 panicles and with extensive stolons, is cultivated 

 as a lawn grass under the name of creeping bent. 

 It is especially useful in the Middle Atlantic states, 

 where it is too warm for blue-grass and too cold 

 for Bermuda. In England, A. alba is called Fiorin 

 and bent-grass ; in parts 

 of the South it is known 

 as Herd's grass. 



eanina, Linn. Rhode Island Bent. (Fig. 539.) A 

 delicate perennial resembling the smaller awned 

 forms of A. alba vvlgaris, but the palea is want- 

 ing. Much of the seed sold under this name is A. 

 alba vvlgaris, 



19. Cynodon (Greek, dog-tooth). A genus of 

 four species of perennial grasses in the tropical 

 regions of both hemispheres. Spikelets one-flow- 

 ered, awnless, sessile, in two rows along one side of 

 a slender axis, forming unilateral spikes which are 

 digitate at the apex of the culm. 



Daetylon, Pers. (Capriola Daetylon, Kuntze). Ber- 

 muda-grass. (Fig. 540.) Stems extensively creeping 

 and rooting at the nodes, or in cultivated or sandy 

 soil forming stout flattened rootstocks. On poor 

 soil the leaves are short and the growth low, but 

 in moist, rich soil it may grow tall enough for hay. 

 Very common in the southern states, where it is 

 the most valuable grass for summer pastures. It is 

 also useful for lawns and for holding embankments. 

 In cultivated fields it becomes a pestiferous weed, 

 and is then often called wire-grass or joint-grass. 



20. Holcus (Greek name for a kind of grass). A 

 genus of annual or perennial grasses containing 

 eight species in Europe and Africa. Spikelets two- 

 flowered, the lower perfect and awnless, the upper 

 staminate and awned. Inflorescence a dense termi- 

 nal panicle. 



lanatus,Lmn. Velvet-grass. (Fig. 541.) Velvety- 

 pubescent throughout. It is generally considered 

 a weed, and finds use as a forage crop only in 

 parts of the Pacific northwest, notably about Puget 

 Sound. 



21. Avena (Latin name for oats). A genus of about 

 fifty species of grasses in the temperate regions of 

 the Old World, a few in America. Spikelets large, 

 two- to six-flowered ; glumes membranous, longer 

 than the flowers; lemma with a dorsal, twisted 

 awn (or in cultivated forms straight or absent). 

 Inflorescence a spreading panicle. 



Fig. 531. 



Rice (Oryza 



aativa). 



Fig. 532. 



Reed canaiy-grass 



{FhalariB arundi- 



nacea). 



Fig. 533. 

 Canary-grass 



(Phalaris 

 Oanariensis). 



Fig. 534. 



Sweet vernal-grass 



{Anthoxanthum 



odoratv/m). 



Fig. 535. 



Tall oat-grass 



{Arrhenatherum 



elatius). 



Fig. 536. 



Timothy (Phleum 



pratenee). 



