GEAMINA. 
135 
at the apex ; uppermost knot usually above the middle of the stem. 
Leaves broadly linear, tapering towards the apex, flaccid, with nu- 
merous rather distant faintly-elevated ribs, rough on ■ ^ - ud 
keel, yellowish-green; sheaths smooth, the up|M 
inflated, about as long as its leaf ; ligule ver}' 
much longer than broad, obtuse, often higher at it 
the other. Panicle spike-like, ovoid or oblong-ovoid, ^.^^L.tiuuuu^, ctren 
lobed, distichously unilateral. Panicle-branches short, unequal, the 
lower ones usually several times dichotomous and bearing numerous 
spikelets, the uppermost ones or all tlie branches once dichotomous and 
bearing 2 or 4 spikelets, ascending, rough. Sterile spikelets without 
glumes, with the pales equally distant, lanceolate, acuminate, scabrous 
on the keel, with an awn about their own length, the uppei-most ones 
sometimes containing a floret Fertile spikelets 2- to 3-flowered, as 
long as the barren spikelets. Glumes of the fertile florets nearly 
equal, strap-shaped-lanceolate, insensibly attenuated into an awn 
about half then* own length. Lower pales of the fertile florets ellip- 
tical-lanceolate, acuminate, deeply 2 -toothed, scabrous towards the 
apex. Awn from between the teeth of the i>ale, and equalling it in 
length, or a little longer. 
In sandy pastures. Yery rare, and confined to the Channel 
Islands. Below Fort Regent, Jersey ; near Port de Fer and other 
places, Guernsey. In England it is also occasionally to be met with 
as a casual introduction in cultivated fields sown with com, Italian 
rye-grass, or clover. 
Channel Islands [England]. Annual. Summer. 
Stems 3 inches to 2 feet high in the Channel Islands specimens, but 
sometimes between 3 or 4 feet when growing in cultivated ground. 
Leaves 2 to 6 inches long by i to | inch broad; in the cornfield speci- 
mens often much longer and broader. Panicle ^ inch to 2 inches long 
(or in the cultivated state sometimes 3 or 4 inches) by | to | inch 
broad. Barren spikelets about i inch long, exclusive of the awns. 
Fertile spikelets j inch long. Florets | inch long. 
Bough Dog's-tail-Grass. 
French, Cynosure Mris.L 
GENUS XrXF//.-D;ACTYLIS. Lhm. 
Spikelets subsessile or very shortly stalked, unilaterally disposed in 
a dense spike-like panicle, or in an open panicle with spike-like tufts at 
the end of the elongate naked branches and rachis, laterally compressed, 
