406 



WEEDS AXD USEFrL PLAXTS, 



ovoid-oblong, yeUowish-green ; bristles 4 - 8 in a cluster^ abont as long 

 as the spikelets ; paleas of the perfect floret smooth, striately pnuctate. 



Italian Setae-ia. Millet. Bengal Grass. 



ifooJ annual. CM77n 2-4 or 5 feet lugh. ieai'es 6 - 12 and IS inches lor.e. lance-lmear, 

 rather "broad, flat, serrulate on the margin ; sheaths striRt-e. pubescent on the margin ; 

 Jigule beard-like. Spike compotmd (or rather a densely contracted pankle). .3-6 mches 

 long, OToid-oblong or suh-cylindric : rachis densely hirsute with loDg hairs. Bridles some- 

 times longer than the spitelets. yellowish. Sierde floret whoUy ar ret-.-,-, neatral. — ^the 

 upper palea Tcry minute. pdlecE of the perfect flora smooth, mm ■ -runciate. 



Fields : cultivated as a fallow crop. Xatire of Europe and Ie - . ^ . i^-. Aug. 



Ohs. Some years ago, the culture of this plant was introduced into 

 Pennsylvania, and excited considerable interest, for a time, among the 

 farmers. — as affording valuable fodder, when the usual hay- crop was 

 likely to be deficient. It was soon found, however, not to be as valuable 

 as the usual fallow crop (of Oats or Barley), of which it occupied the 

 place ; and was. moreover, remarkably liable to damage from rain. The 

 cultivation, therefore, soon declined, — and is now generally abandoned. 

 There is another species {S. vertkiJIatc. Beauv.. — with the spike com- 

 posed of interrupted verticils of spikelets, and the involucre of retrorsely 

 scabrous bristles, in pairs.) which is becoming something of a nuisance, 

 about gardens, in many places : but it seems scarcely, as yet, entitled to 

 a more particular notice here. 



30. CEyCHEUS, i. Btni Grass 



[Greek, Keiichros ; the ancient name of Millet.] 



Spikelets as in Panicum, awnless, but enclosed (1-5 together) in a glob- 

 ular bristly or spinose involua-e, which becomes coriaceous, forming a 

 deciduous bur in fruit. Involucres sessile in a terminal spiJce. Styles 

 united below. 



1. 0. tribiiloi'des, L. Involucre subglobose, pubescent, spinosely 

 mmicate, split on one side. 



TEiBtiLus-LiKE CEXcHRrs. BuT Grass. Hedge-hog Grass. 



Boot annual. Culm 1-2 feet long, usually oblique or procumbent, geniculate, branch- 

 ing, smooth. Leav€S o - 6 or S inches long, lance-hnear, acuminate, shghtly scabrous on 

 the margin ; sheaths loose, smooth ; ligule beard-like. Raceme terminal, of 6-12 or 14 

 alternate'inTolucrate heads or clusters ; rachis angular, flexaose. shghtly scabrous. 7??- 

 coZwf/'e nrceolate or subglobose, laciniate, usually split to the base on one side, hairy, 

 armed externally with rigid subulate scabrous spines, villous within, embracing 1, 2, or 

 3 spikelets. ^fei'-iZ^ ^orei'mostly stamina te. Sandy fields. 77. Aug. Fr. Sept. 



Ohs. The plant is very abundant in sandy districts along the coast and 

 around the great Lakes, — and has found its way to some of the slaty 

 hills of Pennsylvania. It is altogether a worthless grass ; and the 

 prickly involucres are a grievous nuisance, wherever it prevails in cnl- 



