38 (IKAMINEAE. 



ginous, usually flattened parallel with the bracts, awnless. Scales 2, fleshy, 

 truncate. Ovary smooth, oblong; stylos distinct or very shortly united at the 

 base; stigmas usually purple and longer than the styles. Achene compressed, 

 plano-convex, enclosed by the indurated bractlet and palea. (The Latin name 

 for some cereal, from panis, bread, one species — the Millet, P. miliaceum — 

 having been cultivated from prehistoric times as a cereal.) 



Spikelets crowded in 2 to 4 rows on 2 sides of triangular, digitate or clustered spikes. 



Lower bract minute or obsolete; bractlets awnless, pubescent or nearly smooth 



1. P. sanguinale. 

 Spikelets imbricate, sessile on 2 sides of a triangular rachis, usually rough with stiff hairs. 



Bractlet awned or awn-pointed, mostly shortly hirsute on the nerves 2. P. crus-galli. 



Spikelets in lax panicles, pedicellate, awnless. 



Annual; spikelets acutely pointed; panicle-branches mostly angular 3. P. capillar e. 



Perennial; spikelets obtuse or barely pointed; panicle-branches filamentous 



4. P. dichotomiun. 



1. P. sanguinale L. Crab-(;rass. Pale green annual; stems usually 

 prostrate and creeping at base, then ascending or erect, 1 to 2 ft. long, usually 

 stout; lower nodes swollen and rooting; sheaths sparingly hairy with long, 

 stiff, white hairs; throat with a tuft of hairs on each side; ligule about 1 line 

 long, broad, truncate, denticulate; blades 2 to 4 in. long, 2 to 3 lines wide, 

 scabrous on both sides; panicle-branches 4 to 6 or more, digitate or clustered, 

 sub-erect, straight, 3 to 5 in. long, 3-sided, spikelet-bearing to the base on 2 

 sides only; rachis % line wide on the flat side, ciliate-scabrous; spikelets in 

 pairs, in 2 to 4 rows, narrowly lanceolate-acuminate, l 1 /^ to 1% lines long, one 

 on a ciliate-scabrous triangular pedicel, the other sessile below it and over- 

 lapping; bracts much shorter than the spikelet; lower less than ^4 line l° n g? 

 triangular, acute; upper % to 1 line long, linear, 3 to 5-nerved, ciliate with 

 long hairs; lower bractlet empty, membranous, 3 to 5 or 7-nerved, ciliate; 

 upper rather shorter, faintly 3-nerved, chartaceous, glabrous, completely enclos- 

 ing the palea; achene flattened, oblong, 1 line long. 



An alien cosmopolitan weed. Sacramento Valley; Stege; Napa Co. July- 

 Sept. 



2. P. crus-galli L. Barnyard-grass. Annual; stems ascending, 1 to 4 ft. 

 high, very stout; lower nodes much swollen, upper constricted; sheaths sparsely 

 hairy; ligule obsolete; blades variable, 6 to 14 in. long, 4 to 6 lines wide, flat, 

 glabrous, or sparsely hairy; margins rough, often waved, ciliate at the base 

 with long hairs, or glabrous in age; panicle 3 to 6 in. long, green or purple, 

 densely hairy at the nodes; branches somewhat remote, the lowest sometimes 3 

 in. long, triquetrous, minutely pubescent; pedicels with long, stiff hairs; spike- 

 lets crowded on 2 sides of the rachis, 1% to nearly 2 lines long; lower bract 

 broad, triangular, less than y 2 as long as the spikelet, 3-nerved ; upper con- 

 cave, more or less ventricose, broad, oval, 7-nerved, hispid on the nerves, pointed 

 or rigidly awned; lower bractlet empty, shorter than the bracts, 5-nerved, its 

 palea hyaline, 2-nerved; upper bractlet and palea polished, acute or obtuse. 



Cosmopolitan weed, naturalized in moist places beside sloughs and streams: 

 Grand Island; Fort Bragg; Soquel Creek; Stege; Stockton. July-Nov. 



3. P. capillare L. Old-witch-orass. Annual; stems 1 to 2 ft. high, 

 geniculate below, often branching at base and forming largo tufts; sheaths and 

 often the blades hirsute with stiff, spreading hairs; ligule reduced to a ciliate 

 fringe; blades about G in. long, 2 j ■_. to •"">'•_. lines wide, shortly acuminate, 

 sparsely hairy; edges rough, ciliate below; panicle very diffuse, 6 to 12 in. 

 Long, Bometimes !» in. wide; branches solitary or in pairs, sometimes 6 in. Long, 

 Blender, al ftrsl erect, then spreading and finally sometimes deflexed, mostly 



