MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



483 



slender naked bristle, sometimes bearing a rudimentary lemma; 

 glumes narrow, acuminate, 1-nerved, about equal, shorter than the 

 floret; lemma firm, strongly compressed, pu- 

 bescent on the keel, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves 

 close to the margins. Perennial, usually low 

 grasses, with creeping stolons or rhizomes, short 

 blades, and several slender spikes digitate at 

 the summit of the upright culms. Type species, 

 Cynodon dadylon. Name from kuon (kun-), 

 dog, and odous, tooth, alluding to the sharp 

 hard scales of the rhizome. 



1. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Bermuda grass. (Fig. 1031.) 

 Extensively creeping by scaly rhizomes or by strong flat stolons, the 



Figure 1030.— Distribution of 

 Dactylocttnium aegyptium. 



Figure 1031— Cynodon dactylon. Plant, X H; spikelet and two views of floret, X 5. (Kearney, Tenn.) 



old bladeless sheaths of the stolon and the lowest one of the branches 

 often forming conspicuous pairs of "dog's teeth"; flowering culms 

 flattened, usually erect or ascending, 10 to 40 cm tall; ligule a con- 



