386 [ ASSEMBLY 
stamens are three; pistils two. Thefruit hasa dry seed covering, is 
slightly covered with silky hairs, and is called a caryopsis. 
The plants of these two genera have round hollow stems, which 
are divided up into sections by solid nodes or joints. Each leaf 
tightly clasps the stem or culm; the clasping portion is known as the 
sheath. The sheath is divided, and its edges in both barley and oats 
are more or less fringed with woolly fibers. Where the leaf-blade 
proper and sheath join, a membraneous structure called the ligule 
clasps the stem. The upper edge of this ligule is always more or less ~ 
ragged and torn, the condition depending upon the age of the plant. 
The leaves are parallel veined, and are always, as is the stem, covered 
to a more or less degree with abluish bloom. The sheaths are ribbed 
and the leaves vary in form from lanceolate to’ linear, and are smooth 
and sharply pointed. In both genera, the lamina of the upper leaf 
is longer than the sheath, while the lamina of the lower leaves is 
shorter than the sheath. 
The roots of barley and oats are fibrous, and have a more exten- . 
sive growth beneath the surface than is generally supposed. In 
our root. washings, the rootsof barley have been traced thirty-two 
inches, and those of oats thirty inches beneath the surface. The roots 
are extremely slender, and are not perceptibly larger at their extrem- 
ities than at their union with the stem. A few only of the roots 
extend their growth beneath the cultivated soil into the subsoil. The 
plants may be classed as shallow feeders. 2 
Below, the generic characteristics of barley are given under Hor- 
deum, and of oats under Avena. 
Genus: Horpeum. Spikelets one-flowered, and arranged in threes. 
Glumes more in front of the palets than at the sides; are slender, 
finely pubescent, usually three-rowed, and awned or pointed. Palet 
herbaceous. Flowering glumes with one exception (H. trifurcatum) 
tipped with a long awn. The grain is in varieties either encased in 
a covering, or naked, and oblong in form. The foliage of Hordeum 
is usually rougher to the touch than is that of Avena, especially on 
the lower side of the leaf. The culms are as a rule prominently 
covered with a bluish bloom, and the nodes are blackish brown or 
greenish drab 1m color. . 
Grnus: Avena. Spikelets two to four flowered. Glumes large, 
ovate-lanceolate, seven to eight nerved, white and green striped, with 
membraneous edges, and usually completely encompass all the flow- 
ers; unequal in size and smooth. Flowering glumes frequently 
awned. Awns both straight and bent or angled. The grain in 
varieties either is covered or naked; is two ribbed, covered with a 
downy pubescence, and lance-linéar in form. The panicle is large 
and partially closed’or open, bearing many long peduncles upon 
which are borne the spikelets; panicles ovate-lanceolate in. form and 
usually nodding or drooping. 
The following classifications are based upon the study of varieties 
grown at the Station. In cases where sufficient evidence has been 
obtained, so-called varieties have been reduced to synonyms; 
