154 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Orypsis aculeata (L.) Ait. (fig. 88) has been introduced in a few 
places in California. 
72. Heleochloa Host. 
Spikelets 1 -flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes ; 
glumes about equal, narrow, acute ; lemma . broader, thin, a little 
longer than the glumes ; palea nearly as long as the lemma, 2-nerved, 
readily splitting between the nerves ; caryopsis free from the lemma 
and palea. 
Low perennial spreading grasses, with oblong, dense, spikelike 
panicles, terminal and on short lateral branches, the subtending leaves 
Pig. 88. — Crypsis aculeata. Plant, X \ ; spikelet and floret, the palea splitting, X 5. 
with inflated sheaths and reduced blades. Species about seven, in 
the Mediterranean region, one introduced into the United States. 
Type species: Heleochloa alopecuroides Host. 
Heleochloa Host, Gram. Austr. 1: 23. 1801. Two species are described, 
H. alopecuroides and H. schoenoides, both of which are figured. The first is 
chosen as the type. 
Heleochloa schoenoides (L.) Host (fig. 89) has been introduced 
into the eastern United States at several points from Massachusetts 
and Delaware to Illinois. 
73. Brachyelytrttm Beauv. 
Spikelets 1-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes, 
prolonged behind the palea as a slender naked bristle; glumes very 
short, unequal, the first sometimes obsolete, the second sometimes 
awned ; lemma firm, narrow, 5-nerved, the base extending into a pro- 
