588 GRAMINEiE. (GRASS FAMILY.) 
19. ELEUSINE, Gsertner. Crab-Grass. Yard-Grass. 
Spikelets 2 - 6-flowered, with a terminal naked rudiment, close¬ 
ly imbricate-spiked on one side of a flattish rachis; the spikes 
digitate or clustered. Glumes membranaceous, pointless, shorter 
than the flowers. Paleae membranaceous, awnless and pointless ; 
the lower ovate, keeled, larger than the upper. Stamens 3. Per¬ 
icarp (utricle) free from the oval wrinkled seed. — Low annuals, 
with flat leaves, and flowers much as in a Poa. (Name from 
*E\cu<riV, the town where Ceres, the goddess of harvests, was 
worshipped.) 
1. E. Indies*, Grertn. (Dog’s-tail or Wire Grass.) Culms 
branched at the base, ascending, flattened; spikes 2-5 (2' long, 
greenish) ; spikelets about 5-flowered. — Yards, &c., introduced. 
20. EEPTOCHEOA, Beauv. (Oxyd^nia, Nutt.) 
Spikelets 3 - many-flowered (the uppermost flower imperfect), 
loosely spiked on one side of a long filiform rachis : the spikes ra- 
cemed. Glumes membranaceous, keeled, often awl-pointed, the 
upper one somewhat larger. Lower palea 3-nerved, the lateral 
nerves next the ciliate or hairy margins awnless, or bristle-awned 
at the entire or 2-toothed tip, larger than the upper. Stamens 2 - 
3. Seed sometimes loose in the pericarp. — Leaves flat. (Name 
composed of Xe7rrds, slender, and xkoa, grass, from the long atten¬ 
uated spikes.) 
§ 1. Leptochloa proper. — Lower palea awnless or simply awned. 
1. E. mneronata, Kunth. Sheaths hairy ; spikes numer¬ 
ous (20 - 40, 2'-4* in length), in a long panicle-like raceme; spike¬ 
lets small; glumes more or less raucronate, nearly equalling or ex¬ 
ceeding the 3-4 awnless flowers. (I) —Fields, S. Ohio and south¬ 
ward. August. 
§2. Diplachne, Beauv. — Lower palea bristle-anmed from the 2- 
toothed apex ; the marginal nerves often excurrent into lateral teeth or 
points. 
E. fascicularis. Smooth; leaves longer than the genicu¬ 
late-decumbent branching culms; the upper sheathing the base of the 
crowded panicle-like raceme, which is composed of many strict spikes 
(3'-5' long); spikelets slightly pedicelled, 7- 11-flowered, much 
longer than the lanceolate glumes; paleae hairy-margined towards the 
base; the lower one with 2 small lateral teeth and a short awn m 
the cleft of the apex. © (Festuca fascicularis, Lam. F. polysta- 
chya, Midtx. Diplachne fasc., Beauv., Torr .)—Brackish meadows, 
