T 1 1 K a K A SS KS OF T K N N KSS K K. 91 



Species one, appearinj:j as a weed in all the warmer countries of 



the worUl. 



1. Dactyloctenium ^gyptiacum Wilhl. Crow-foot. 



A low, tufted or creeping j^rass, with ascending flowering- 

 branches rarely a foot hiji^h. Leaves about six inches lonj^, flat, 

 ciliate near the base. vSpikes three to five, dij^itate, one-half to 

 one and one half inches long. The outer glume of the usually 

 three-flowered spikelets about one line long, the second broader 

 obtuse, or emarginate, with the keel prcjduced into a short 

 d >rsal awn; flowering glumes broad, short spreading" points. 



Not yet recorded as occurring in Tennessee, but probably will be 

 found in the middle or western part of the State. Common far- 

 ther South. 



41. LEPTOCHLOA Heauv. Agrost. 71, t. 15, f. 7. (1812.) 



Spikelets two- to several-flowered, sessile, in two rows along" 

 one side of the slender and often numerous branches of a simple 

 panicle; rachilla articulated above the empty glumes. Empty 

 glumes two-keeled, avvnless or very short awned. Flowering- 

 glumes keeled, three nerved acute, avvnless or very short awned, 

 or two- to three-toothed, and mucronate or short-awned between 

 the teeth. Palea two keeled. Fruit a caryopsis. 



Usually tall annuals with flat leaves and elongated simple pani- 

 cles made up of the numerous and more or less spreading slender 

 spikes scattered along the main axis. 



Species about twenty, in the warmer countries of b )th hemis- 

 pheres. In the United States the species are mostly limited to the 

 southwestern Territories. One introduced species occurs as a 

 weed in Tennessee. 



I. Leptochloa mucronata Kunth. Feather-grass. 

 Plate XXXI. Figure 121. 



An annual one to three feet high, with flat leaves and numerous 

 slender spreading spikes in an elongated simple panicle, six ta 

 eighteen inches long. Sheaths hairy; leaf blade three to six lines 

 wide. Spikes two to four inches long, spikelets small, three- to 

 fuur-flowered; empty glumes mucronate-pointed, exceeding or 

 shorter than the florets. 



Common in rich cultivated grounds, gardens, etc. The numer- 

 ous slender spreading spikes, scattered along the common rachis 

 form a somewhat plume-like inflorescence. Of no agricultural 

 value. 



Tribe XI. FESTUCE.-E. 



Spikelets two- to many-flowered, usually hermaphrodite, pedi- 

 cellate in racemes or panicles, these sometimes dense and spike- 

 like. Flowering glu nes usually longer than the empiy (mt-s. 



