952 



THE GRASS FAMILY. 



On river-banks and in marshes, in 

 Europe, Russian Asia, and North 

 America, extending from the Medi- 

 terranean to the Arctic regions. Com- 

 mon in Britain. Fl. summer. A va- 

 riety with variegated leaves is often 

 cultivated in gardens under the name 

 of Striped- grass or Mibbon*grass. 



VIII. PHLEUM. PHLEUM. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, flat, and crowded into a cylindrical or ovoid 

 spike or spike-like panicle. Outer glumes boat-shaped, their keels pro- 

 jecting into a point or very short awn. Flowering glume shorter, very 

 thin, awnless or with a very short awn on the back. Palea very thin, 

 sometimes with a minute bristle at its base outside, which is the con- 

 tinuation of the axis of the spikelet. 



A small genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder regions 

 of the northern hemisphere, distinguished from Foxtail chiefly by the 

 presence of the palea. 



Outer glumes truncate and broadly scarious below the point. 

 Spike long and cylindrical. Points of the outer glumes 



not half so long as the glume itself 1. Timothy P. 



Spike short, ovoid or oblong. Points or awns of the outer 



glumes nearly as long or longer than the glume itself . 2. Alpine P. 

 Outer glumes tapering into a minute point. 



Perennial. Outer glumes linear-lanceolate 3. Boehmer's P. 



Annual. 



Outer glumes wedge-shaped, less than a line long ; the 



lateral ribs inconspicuous. Spike long and slender . 4. Rough P. 

 Outer glumes lanceolate, strongly ciliated on the keel, 1J 

 lines long j the lateral ribs prominent. Spike short . 5. Sand P. 



