Dactylis. GRAMINEiE. 467 



Fields, orchards, etc. : common. Fl. May - June. Introduced from Europe. A valuable 

 grass, but generally thought to be inferior to timothy. It has an advantage over the latter, in 

 ripening at the same time with clover. It also thrives well under the shade of trees. 



36. BROMUS. Linn.; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 412. bromegrass. 



[From the Greek, l/roma, food. Bromos was a name originally applied to a species of wild oat.] 



Spikelels usually oblong, 3 - many-flowered ; the flowers distichous. Glumes unequal, 

 shorter than the flowers, mostly keeled. Palese herbaceous ; the lower one bifid and usually 

 with an awn below the tip, convex on the back : upper palea bicarinate, fringed on the 

 keels. Stigmas simply plumose ; the hairs elongated, denticulate. — Panicle diffuse or 

 contracted : spikelets pedicellate. 



1. Bromus secalinus, Linn. (Plate CLVII.) Cheat. Chess. 



Panicle spreading, at length nodding, the branches nearly simple ; spikelets ovate-oblong, 

 compressed, 8 - 10-flowered ; awns shorler than the paleas. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 76; Engl, 

 hot. t. 1 171 ; Pursh, fl. I. p. 85 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 172 ; Muhl. gram. p. 168 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. 

 p. 37 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 127 ; Beck, hot. p. 408 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 69 ; Kunth, enum. 

 1. p. 413. 



Annual. Culm 2-3 feet high ; the nodes pubescent and swollen. Leaves broadly linear, 

 hairy above : sheaths smooth : ligule oblong. Panicle 4-6 inches long ; the branches semi- 

 verticillate. Spikelets large and thick, a little remote. Glumes ovate-lanceolate ; the lower 

 one 5-nerved : upper 7-nerved. Lower palea obscurely 7-nerved, pubescent toward the 

 summit. Awns sometimes wanting. Caryopsis large, oblong, grooved above. 



Cultivated grounds, particularly among crops of grain. Fl. June. There is a very pre 

 valent, but groundless opinion among farmers, that this grass has originated from wheat. To 

 those who are acquainted with the laws of organic life, it is hardly necessary to say that such 

 a transformation has never been proved. 



2. Bromus ciliatus, Linn. Fringed Brome-grass. 



Panicle loose, nodding ; spikelets at first oblong-lanceolate and terete, finally oblong, 8 - 

 12-flowered ; the flowers clothed with appressed pubescensc, longer than the straight awn. — 

 Linn. sp. 1. p. 76 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 85 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 173 ; Muhl. gram. p. 169 ; Bigel. fl. 

 Bost. p. 38 ; Beck, hot. p. 408 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 70; Kunth, enum. 1. p. 419. B. 

 pubescens, var. 1., Torr. fl. 1. p. 129. B. Canadensis, Michx. fl. 1. p. 65? B. pungens 

 (in part), Hook, fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 252. 



Perennial. Culm 3-4 feet high, striate ; the nodes black. Leaves broadly linear (3-7 

 lines wide), smoothish underneath, hairy above : lower sheaths retrorsely pubescent ; upper 



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