182 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Figure 243.— Uniola nitida. Plant, X 1; floret, X 5. (Curtiss 3521, Fla.) 



palea; anther 1.3 mm. long. 91 (U. 

 longifolia Scribn.) — Rich woods, 

 southeastern Virginia to Tennessee 

 and Oklahoma, south to Florida and 

 eastern Texas. 



6. Uniola laxa (L.) B. S. P. (Fig. 

 246.) Culms slender, 60 to 100 cm. 

 tall, erect to nodding from a loosely 

 tufted sometimes knotty base; blades 

 elongate, flat to sometimes loosely in- 

 volute, 3 to 6 mm. wide; panicle nar- 

 row, slender, 15 to 30 cm. long, the 

 branches short, appressed, approxi- 

 mate, the lower sometimes 3 cm. long 

 and distant; spikelets nearly sessile, 

 approximate, flat, usually 3- to 4- 

 flowered, the first lemma empty; lem- 

 mas spreading, 4 to 5 mm. long, grad- 

 ually acuminate, striate-nerved ; palea 

 broad, the keels narrowly winged; 

 grain black, 2.5 mm. long, at matu- 

 rity spreading the lemma and palea; 

 anther 1.2 mm. long. % — Moist 

 woods, Coastal Plain, Long Island to 

 Florida and Texas, extending to 

 western North Carolina, Kentucky, 

 Arkansas, and Oklahoma. 



23. DACTYLIS L. Orchard grass 



Spikelets few-flowered, compressed, 

 finally disarticulating between the 



florets, nearly sessile in dense 1-sided 

 fascicles, these borne at the ends of 

 the few branches of a panicle; glumes 

 unequal, carinate, acute, hispid-ciliate 

 on the keel; lemmas compressed- 

 keeled, mucronate, 5-nerved, ciliate 

 on the keel. Perennials, with flat 

 blades and fascicled spikelets. Type 

 species, Dactylis glomerata. Name 

 from Greek dactulos, a finger, alluding 

 to the stiff branches of the panicle. 



1. Dactylis glomerata L. Orchard 

 grass. (Fig. 247.) Culms in large tus- 

 socks, 60 to 120 cm. tall; blades elon- 

 gate, 2 to 8 mm. wide; panicles 5 to 

 20 cm. long, the few distant stiff soli- 

 tary branches ascending, or spreading 

 at anthesis, appressed at maturity, 

 the lowermost sometimes as much as 

 10 cm. long; lemmas about 8 mm. 

 long, mucronate or short-awned. % 

 — Fields, meadows, and waste places, 

 Newfoundland to southeastern Alas- 

 ka; south to Florida and central 

 California; Eurasia. Commonly culti- 

 vated as a meadow and pasture grass. 

 In England called cocksfoot. A varie- 

 gated form (called by gardeners var. 

 variegata) is occasionally cultivated 

 for borders. 



