GRASS FAMILY. 



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sharply keeled; lower 1-nerved; upper larger, 1 to 3-nerved. 

 Rachilla glabrous. Bractlet larger than the bracts, sharply keeled 

 and fringed on the keel, the 5 nerves converging into an awn-like, 

 scabrid point; palea as long, 2-fid, 2-nerved, nerves ciliate. Scales 2, 

 with an acute, marginal tooth. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous. (The 

 ancient name for some grass with finger-like spikes, from Greek 

 daktulos, a finger or finger's breadth.) 



1. D. glomerata L. Orchard-grass. Rootstock tufted and 

 somewhat creeping; stems at length forming large, dense tufts, erect 

 from a shortly decumbent, leafy base, 2 to 3 ft. high, stout; leaves 

 glaucescent; sheaths scabrid; ligule \ to £ in. long, laciniate; blades 



2 to 3£ lines wide, scabrous, soft; panicle 2 to 6 in. long, pinkish 

 when in flower; branches solitary, scabrous, sub-erect, the lowest 1 

 to 4 in. long, branching and spikelet-bearing only at the ends; 

 clusters of spikelets ovoid; spikelets about 4 lines .long; bracts about 



3 lines long, subequal, strongly ciliate on the keel; bractlet 2 to 4 

 lines long, lanceolate, scabrid; anthers 1 to 1£ lines long, cream- 

 colored, apparently all in a spikelet maturing at the same time. 



Native of Europe, naturalized near Berkeley, San Francisco, 

 Olema, Eureka, and Crescent City. June-Aug. 



35. LAMARCKIA Mcench. 



Annual. Stems tufted, branching. Leaves flat. Panicle secund, 

 racemose, short, dense; lowest branches bearing 1 to 3, uppermost 

 only 1, spikelet. Spikelets spreading or drooping, fascicled, of two 

 kinds; central spikelet, terminating the branch, bearing a perfect 

 flower; lateral spikelets of ten or more empt\ T , obtuse, awn less 

 bractlets, denticulate above. Bracts narrow, slightly unequal. 

 Perfect flower stipitate; rachilla prolonged beyond it and bearing 

 a diminutive empty bractlet with a slender awn; flower-enclosing 

 bractlet acute with a long, straight, dorsal awn near the apex; 

 palea 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct, barbellate almost 

 throughout. (A monotypic genus, named in honor of La Marck, 

 1744-1829, celebrated French^botanist.) 



1. L. aurea (Dalech.) Mcench. Golden-top. Stems erect from 

 a somewhat decumbent base, 4 to 14 in. high, smooth, leafy, some- 

 times branching below; sheaths inflated, smooth; ligule usually very 

 prominent, £ to 6 lines long, decurrent as a broad, scarious margin to 

 the mouth of the sheath; blades thin, 1£ to 4 in. long, 2£ to 4 lines 

 wide, panicle dense, I to 3 in. long, \ to 1 in. wide, shining, of a 

 golden color sometimes tinged with purple; branches close, erect, 

 short; pedicels fascicled, somewhat clavate, pubescent, spreading at 

 right angles, the fascicles with a tuft of long, whitish hairs at the 

 base; fertile spikelet about 1 line long; sterile 3 to 4 lines long; bracts 

 very narrow, almost hyaline, about 1 line long; awn from a little 

 below the apex of the bractlet, 3 to 4£ lines long. — (Achyrodes 

 aureum Ktze.) 



A Mediterranean Region species, now abundant in the warm 

 interior southern portions of the State; within our limits it appears 



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