Figure 246. — Uniola laxa. Plant, 

 X 1; floret, X 5. (Van Eseltine 

 and Moseley 178, D. C.) 



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



glumes similar to those of the fertile 

 spikelet, and numerous imbricate, ob- 

 tuse, awnless, empty lemmas, a re- 

 duced spikelet similar to the fertile 

 one borne on the pedicel with one of 

 the sterile ones. — Low annual with 

 flat blades and oblong, 1-sided, dense 

 panicles, the crowded fascicles droop- 

 ing, the fertile being hidden, except 

 the awns, by the numerous sterile 

 ones; fascicles falling entire. Type 

 species, Lamarckia aurea. Xamed for 

 J. B. Lamarck. 



1. Lamarckia aurea (L.) Moench. 

 Goldentop. (Fig. 250.) Culms erect 

 or decumbent at base, 10 to 40 cm. 

 tall; blades soft, 3 to 7 mm. wide; pan- 

 icle dense, 2 to 7 cm. long, 1 to 2 cm. 

 wide, shining, golden yellow to pur- 

 plish, the branches short, erect, the 

 branchlets capillaiy, flexuous; ped- 

 icels fascicled, pubescent, with a tuft 

 of long whitish hairs at the base; fer- 

 tile spikelet about 2 mm. long, the 

 awn of lemma about twice as long as 

 the spikelet; sterile spikelet 6 to 8 mm. 

 long. O — Open ground and waste 

 places, Texas, Arizona, southern Cali- 

 fornia, and northern Mexico; intro- 

 duced from the Mediterranean region. 

 Sometimes cultivated for ornament. 



long; pairs of spikelets about 5 mm. 

 long; lemmas with awns mostly not 

 more than 1 mm. long. % — Fields 

 and waste places, Newfoundland to 

 Michigan and North Carolina; Idaho, 

 Washington to California; introduced 

 from Europe. Occasionally cultivated 

 in mixtures for meadows, but of little 

 value. 



2. Cynosurus echinatus L. (Fig. 

 249.) Annual; culms 20 to 40 cm. tall; 

 blades short; panicle subcapitate, 1 to 



4 cm. long, bristly; pairs of spikelets 

 7 to 10 mm. long; lemmas with awns 



5 to 10 mm. long. O — Open 

 ground, British Columbia; Oregon to 

 central California; Maryland; North 

 Carolina; Arkansas and Oklahoma; 

 introduced from Europe. 



25. LAMARCKIA Moench 



(Achyrodes Boehmer) 



Spikelets of two kinds, in fascicles, 

 the terminal one of each fascicle fer- 

 tile, the others sterile; fertile spikelet 

 with 1 perfect floret on a slender stipe 

 and a rudiment ary floret on a long 

 rachilla-joint, both awned, the glumes 

 narrow, acuminate or short-awned, 

 1-nerved; lemma broader, scarcely 

 nerved, bearing just below the apex a 

 delicate awn; sterile spikelets linear, 

 1 to 3 in each fascicle, consisting of 2 



26. ARUNDO L. 



Spikelets several-flowered, the flo- 

 rets successively smaller, the summits 

 of all about equal, the rachilla 

 glabrous, disarticulating above the 

 glumes and between the florets; 

 glumes somewhat unequal, membra- 

 naceous, 3-nerved, narrow, tapering 

 into a slender point, about as long as 

 the spikelet; lemmas thin, 3-nerved, 

 densety and softly long-pilose, grad- 

 ually narrowed at the summit, the 

 nerves ending in slender teeth, the 

 middle one extending into a straight 

 awn. Tall perennial reeds, with broad 

 linear blades and large plumelike ter- 

 minal panicles. Type species, Arundo 

 donax. Arundo, the ancient Latin 

 name. 



1. Arundo donax L. Giant reed. 

 (Fig. 251.) Culms stout, in large 



