Bulletin VII. 1. 



Tribe X. CHLORIDE.E. 



Spikelets one to several-flowered in one-sided spikes or racemes, 

 these racemes digitate or fasciculate, rarely solitary. Flowering 

 flumes usna'ly keeled, entire and unawned, or toothed and with 

 one or three straight awns. 



A small tribe of twenty-seven genera and one hundred and fifty- 

 five species, characterized chiefly by the inflorescence, which is 

 nearly that of Paspalum. The awns, when present, are not dorsal 

 nor twisted as in Agrostidece and Avenece. They are for the most 

 part natives of tropical and subtropical countries; a few are widely 

 distributed as weeds throughout the warmer parts of the world. A 

 number are good turf-forming grasses and are valued for graz- 

 ing purposes. One of these is the celebrated Buffalo-grass of the 

 western plains, which is remarkable for having the staminate and 

 pistillate spikelets separate and in unlike inflorescences, either 

 upon the same or upon diflrerent plants. 



34. OYNODON Pers. Syn. PI. I. 85. 



Spikelets one-flowered, awnless, sessile in two rows along one 

 side of a slender continuous axis, forming unilateral spikes, these 

 digi:ate at the apex of the peduncle; rachilla articulated above 

 the empty glumes and prolonged behind the palea of the herma- 

 phrodite floret into a slender, naked bristle. Glumes three, the 

 first two narrow, keeled, usually acute, empty, the third or floral 

 glume broader and usually a little longer than the empty ones, 

 obtuse, more or less pilose on the keel and at the margins. Palea 

 about the length of its glume, two-keeled. Stamens three. Styles 

 distirct. Grain free within the fruiting glume and palea. Low 

 creeping perennials, with short, flat leaves and slender spikes, 

 digitate at apex of the upright branches. 



Species four, one distributed throughout the tropical and warmer 

 temperate regions of the world. 



T. Oynodon Dactylon Pers. Bermuda-grass. 

 Plate XXIX. Figure 115. 



Stems prostrate and extensively creeping, with numerous ascend- 

 ing or upright, leafy and flower-bearing branches. Sheaths smooth, 

 hairy at the throat. Leaves flat, widely spreading, gradually 

 tapering to a very slender acute tip. Spikes three to five, slender, 

 widely spreading, often purplish, one to two inches long. Flower- 

 ing glume broadly boat-shaped, about one line long, usually ciliate 

 on the keel. 



This is a grass with a dual character, a most valuable plant 

 under certain conditions, and a veritable pest when growing where 

 it is not wanted. It is a valuable pasture-grass for the eastern 

 part of the State at least, but its introduction into new land 

 should be made with caution on account of its habit of taking 



