GENERA OF GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
67 
Typo species: Dactylis ylomerata L, 
Dactylis L., Sp. PI. 71, 1753 ; Gen. PI., ed. 5, 32. 1754. Linnaeus describes two 
species, D. cynosuroides from Virginia, and D. glomerata from Europe. The 
latter species being described in his flora 
of Sweden is chosen as the type. 
Dactylis glomerata, orchard grass 
(PI. VIII; fig. 28), is a well-known 
meadow and pasture grass, cultivated 
in the humid region of the United 
States. It is a rather coarse, erect, 
perennial bunch-grass, soon forming 
large tussocks, with culms 2 to 4 
feet tall, flat blades as much as one- 
third of an inch wide, panicles 3 to 8 
inches long, with a few stiff branches, 
spreading in flower, appressed in 
fruit. In England this is called 
cocksfoot grass. Orchard grass is 
recommended for shaded situations, 
as it withstands shade better than our 
other meadow grasses. 
22. Cynosubus L. 
Spikelets "of two kinds, sterile and 
fertile together, the fertile sessile, 
nearly covered by the short-pediceled 
sterile one, these pairs imbricate in a 
dense one-sided spikelike panicle; 
sterile spikelets consisting of two 
glumes and several narrow, acumi- 
nate, 1 -nerved lemmas on a continu- 
ous rachilla; fertile spikelets 2 or 3 
flowered, the glumes narrow, the 
lemmas broader, rounded on the back, 
awn-tipped, the rachilla disarticulat- 
ing above the glumes. 
Species four, in the Mediterranean 
region ; one occasionally cultivated in 
the United States and sparingly es- 
caped into waste places. 
Type species : Cynosurus cristatus L. 
Cynosurus L., Sp. PI. 72, 1753; Gen. Pl„ 
ed. 5, 33. 1754. Linnaeus describes nine 
Species. The first species, C. cristatus, is 
chosen as the type because it is an eco- 
nomic species and is one of three species 
described in his flora of Sweden. Of 
the remaining Linnsean species, one, C. echinatus, is now retained in Cyno' 
surus ; C. lima is referred to AVangenheimia ; C. durus, to Scleropoa ; C. coeru- 
leus, to Sesleria ; C. aegyptius, to Dactyloctenium ; C. indicus, to Eleusine ; C, 
paniceus, to Polypogon ; C. aureus, to Achyrodes. 
Fig. 29. — Crested dog's-tail grass, 
Cynosurus cristatus. Plant, XI; 
fertile spikelet and floret, X 5. 
