980 



THE GRASS FAMILY. 



south. Fl. summer. A singular variety, 

 with the spike much elongated, the. 

 spikelets distant, and the glumes often 

 enlarged, in which also the whole spike 

 is abruptly bent down, has been distin- 

 guished as a species, under the name of 

 the pendulous JE. (E. geniculates, Eng. 

 Bot. t. 1586). It is occasionally met 

 with on the coasts of Holland and 

 Scandinavia, and is said to have been 

 gathered formerly on the Thames below 

 Gravesend. 



Fig. 1189. 



XXYI. BARLEY. HOEDEUM. 



Spikelets 3 together, sessile on alternate notches of a simple spike, 1 

 or 2 of them consisting each of 2 glumes, either empty or with male or 

 rudimentary flowers, the 2 or 1 others containing each 1 perfect flower ; 

 the empty glumes of the 3 spikelets often reduced to mere awns, and 

 forming a kind of involucre round the flowering glume. 



A genus of few species, dispersed over the temperate regions of both 

 hemispheres, chiefly in maritime districts, and rare in the tropics. The 

 origin of the 2 or 3 cultivated species has not been as yet satisfactorily 

 made out. 



Flowers of the 2 lateral spikelets perfect ; of the central one 



male, or rudimentary, or none 1. Wood B, 



Flowers of the central spikelet perfect ; of the lateral ones male, 

 or rudimentary, or none. 



Outer glumes of all the spikelets awn-like from the base . 2. Meadow B. 



Outer glumes of the central spikelet lanceolate, and ciliate 



at the base ; of the others awn-like from the base ... 3. Wall B. 



Outer glumes of all the spikelets slightly dilated at the base, 

 not ciliate, and one of each lateral spikelet broader than 

 the rest 4. Sea B. 



