328 
OHIO BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
Tribe, Maydeae. Corn Tribe. 
Monecioiis grasses having the staniinate and carpellate spikelets in 
different inflorescences or in different parts of the same inflorescence, 
often with highly specialized structures; spikelets articulated below the 
empty glumes, round or dorsally compressed, in pairs, normally 2 - 
flowered, some of the flowers usually more or less vestigial or obsolete 
and the staminate and carpellate flozvers usually showing vestiges of 
the opposite organs. 
66. Tripsacum L. Gama-grass. 
Tall stout monecious perennials with solid stems, thick creeping rhizomes, 
broad flat leaves, and a panicle of spikate or racemose branches, the joints of 
the fruiting rachis separating at the nodes, each joint containing a grain and the 
remains of the spikelet, the upper part of the inflorescence staminate, lower part 
carpellate. Staminate spikelets in pairs, the flowers containing vestigial ovularies; 
carpellate spikelet solitary imbedded in the rachis joint, with one carpellate flower 
which contains vestigial stamens and a vestigial flower with only a vestigial 
ovulary; outer empty glume of the carpellate flower large and cartilaginous, the 
inner coriaceous; flowering glumes hyaline; empty glumes of the staminate 
spikelets subcoriaceous, the flowering glumes membranous or hyaline; grain 
free enclosed in the pocket of the rachis joint and the glumes. 
Tripsacum dactyloides L. Gama-grass. A monecious, perennial grass 
with thick rhizomes and solid stems, 1-7 ft. high. Inflorescence consisting of a 
number of spike-like racemes with paired staminate spikelets above and single 
carpellate spikelets below. Spikelets 2-flowered, the carpellate spikelet, with one 
carpellate and one vestigial flower, contained in the deeply channeled joints of 
the rachis which separate spontaneously at maturity, by cleavage planes. 
Euchlaena mexicana Schrad. Teosinte. A monecious annual grass, 8-15 
ft. high, of much value for forage in the south. The carpellate inflorescence 
is surrounded by a peculiar husk, and the grains are enclosed in the flattened 
rachis joints much as in Tripsacum. 
67. Coix L. Job’s-tears. 
Coarse much-branched annuals with large broad leaves and a 
monecious inflorescence, the staminate spikelets covered by a modi¬ 
fied leaf-sheath which becomes bony and bead-like in fruit, the stam¬ 
inate inflorescence projecting thru this sheath. Staminate spikelets 
2-flowered, the flowers with vestigial ovularies; carpellate spikelets 
2-flowered, the outer flower entirely vestigial with a lemma, the inner 
containing a normal gynecium and 3 vestigial stamens ; two or more 
vestigial structures usually present in the sheath besides the carpel¬ 
late spikelet; empty glumes thick-membranous; flowering glumes 
hyaline ; grain free, enclosed in the glumes and the bony sheath. 
1. Coix lacryma-jobi L. Job’s-tears. A much-branched annual 
grass with rather thick stems, 2-4 ft. high, and a pecular inflores- 
