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AGROSTIS Linn. 
Spikelets 1-flowered in a contracted or open panicle; outer glumes 
nearly equal or the lower rather longer. and longer than the flowering 
glume, 1-nerved, acute, unawned; flowering glume shorter and wider, 
hyaline, 3- to 5-nerved, awnless, or sometimes awned on the back; 
palet shorter than the flowering glume, frequently reduced to a small 
scale or entirely wanting. Stamens usually 3. Grain free. 
1. Palet wanting or very minute. 
A, Panicle spike-like or close and short-rayed. 
1. Agrostis densiflora (A. mucronata Thurb. not Presl.) Culms in tufts from an 
annual fibrous root, 3 to 12 inches high, rather stout; leaves mostly radical or near 
the base, rather rigid, erect, the uppermost 1 to 2 inches long, rough on the margins; 
ligule conspicuous, obtuse, decurrent; sheaths longer than the internodes, striate, 
rather loose, crowded at the base; panicle dense and spike-like, 1 to 3 inches long, 
2 to 6 lines thick, the rays verticillate or glomerate, densely flowered, scabrous; 
spikelets over a line long; empty glumes equal, ovate-lanceolate, very acute or some- 
what mucronate, the lower hispid on the back, and scabrous throughout; flower- 
ing glumes a quarter shorter than the empty ones, minutely toothed at apex, not 
awned, palet wanting or minute.—Santa Cruz, Cal. (Dr. C. LZ. Anderson), This has 
been distributed as 4. mucronata Presl. 
Var. ARENARIA (Agrostis arenaria Scribn.) Culms tufted, low (6 to 12 inches), mostly 
decumbent and geniculate at base, leaves 2 to 3 inches long, 1 or 2 lines or less wide; 
panicle varying from dense to loose and sometimes interrupted, 1 to 24 inches long; 
empty glumes nearly equal, ovate-lanveolate, acute, 1 line long, scabrous throughout, 
hispid on the midnerve; flowering glume nearly as long as the empty ones, broadly 
ovate, obtusish, minutely toothed at apex, sometimes with a rudimentary awn on the 
back; palet minute or wanting.—Seashore, Mendocino County (C. G. Pringle, 1882). 
This differs chiefly in being decumbent below, and with paniclesless dense. In the 
scrabrous glumes it resembles 4. verticillate. 
Var. LITTORALE (Agrostis exarata var. littorale Vasey Bull. Torr. Club, x11. p. 54). 
Culms tufted, low, decumbent below, and sending out long (1 to 2 feet) short-jointed 
runners, leaves about 2 inches long, narrow, long-acuminate; panicle looser and more 
thinly flowered, the short rays sometimes spreading; empty glumes more acute, 
longer, and smoother; floral glume one-half to two-thirds as long as the empty 
glumes; palet minute, and with the 2 lodicules as long as the ovary.—Bottom lands, 
Washington (W. M. Suksdorf). 
Very similar to some forms of 4. stolonifera, which, however, has the palet as in 
A. vulgaris. It is only connected with 4. densiflora through the var. arenaria. 
2. A. microphylla Steudel. Steudel Syn. Pl., p. 164. (Deyeuria alopecuroides 
Nutt.) Roots annual, culm erect, slender, often branched at the base; leaves short, 
erect, narrow; sheaths shorter than their internodes, ligule acute, decurrent; pani- 
cle lanceolate, erect, more or less dense, the very short rays verticillate or glomerate 
and mucn subdivided; empty glumes 14 to 2 lines long, linear-lanceolate, attenuated 
to an awn-like point, whitish ; floral glume half as long as the empty ones, narrow, 
minutely 4-toothed at apex with a dorsal awn about the middle, the latter 2 to 3 
lines long, palet wanting.—Throughout California to Oregon and Washington. 
It is difficult to determine without the original specimens whether this and the 
preceding are correctly named. Prof. Hackel thinks this must be the A. mucronata 
Presl., while Gen. Munroe referred it as above. 
Var. MAJOR (Agrostis exarata var. microphylla Watson). Culms slender or stout, 1} 
