196 
GRAMINEAE 
on the back, 3-nerved, the nerves usually prominent. (Eros, love, agros- 
tis, grass, from the common European name, “love-grass.”) 
1. E. cilianensis (All.) Link. -Stink Grass. Snake Grass. Annual; 
culms erect of ascending from a decumbent base, rather flaccid, freely 
branching, 2 to 6 dm. high; panicles greenish-lead-color, 1.3 to 3.8 dm. 
long, rather densely flowered; spikelets 6 to 12 mm. long, 10 to 40- 
flowered, the florets closely imbricate; lemmas thin, the lateral nerves 
prominent.—Fields, roadsides and waste places; nat. from Eur. Strong- 
scented when fresh. 
6. DISTICHLIS Raf. 
Low dioecious perennial with extensively creeping rhizomes, erect rigid 
culms and short dense rather few-flowered panicles. Spikelets several to 
many-flowered. Glumes unequal, broad, acute, keeled, mostly 3-nerved, 
the lateral nerves sometimes faint or obscured by striations and inter¬ 
mediate nerves. Lemmas closely imbricate, firm, the pistillate coriaceous, 
the margins bowed out near the base, acute or acutish, 3-nerved, with 
several intermediate nerves or striations. Palea as long as the lemma 
or shorter, the pistillate coriaceous, inclosing the grain. (Greek distichos, 
2-ranked.) 
1. D. spicata (L.) Greene. Salt Grass. Forming tough sod, glau¬ 
cous ; culms 1 to 6 dm. high; leaves numerous, stiff, often conspicuously 
distichous.—Salt marshes and alkaline soil at low altitudes, common. 
7. ARUNDO L. 
Tall perennial reeds with broad linear blades and large plume-like 
terminal panicles. Spikelets several-flowered, the florets successively 
smaller, the summits of all about equal, the rachilla glabrous. Glumes 
somewhat unequal, membranous, 3-nerved, narrow, tapering into a 
slender point, about as long as the spikelet. Lemmas thin, 3-nerved, 
densely long-pilose, gradually narrowed at the summit, thfe nerves ending 
in slender teeth, the middle one extending into a straight awn. (Ancient 
Latin name for reed.) 
1. A. donax L. Giant Reed. Culms stout, 2 to 6 m. high, from knotty 
branching rhizomes; blades 4 to 8 cm. wide on the main culm, the base 
cordate, more or less hairy-tufted.—Native of the Orient; escaped along 
irrigating ditches in cent, and S. Cal. 
8. PHRAGMITES Adans. 
Tall perennials with broad blades. Glumes 3-nerved, or the upper 5- 
nerved, lanceolate, the first about half as long as the upper. Lemmas nar¬ 
row, long-acuminate, 3-nerved. (Greek phragmites, growing in hedges.) 
1. P. communis L. Common Reed. Culms robust, 1.7 to 3.5 dm. 
high; spikelets about 12 mm. long.—Freshwater swamps, marshes and 
springs. 
9. DACTYLIS L. 
Perennials with flat blades and fascicled spikelets. Spikelets few- 
flowered, compressed, nearly sessile in dense one-sided fascicles, these 
borne at the ends of the few branches of a panicle. Glumes unequal, cari¬ 
nate, acute, hispid-ciliate on the keel. Lemmas compressed-keeled, mu- 
cronate, 5-nerved, ciliate on the keel. (Greek, daktulos, a finger.) 
