18 
Var. MINOR. A shorter, densely tufted form, 1 foot high; culms geniculate below, 
with shorter, more slender, erect leaves; short truncate ligules, and sheaths shorter 
than the internodes. Probably introduced, but growing spontaneously in dry fields 
and waste places. 
26, A. verticillata Vill. (Bot. Cal. 11. p, 272.) Culms 1 to 2 feet high, decum- 
bent and rooting below, the lower joints geniculate; leaves short, flat, 1 to 3 lines 
wide, rough; ligule 1 or 2 lines long, truncate; sheaths loose, shorter than the 
internodes; panicle 2 to 6 lines long, dense, lobed and interrupted; rays crowded, 
short, branched and flowering from the base; spikelets less than a line long; empty 
glumes about equal, acute, roughened with a minute pubescence; floral glume about 
half as long as the empty ones, 5-nerved, minutely 5-toothed at the obtuse apex 5 
palet nearly as long as its glume.—Widely dispersed in the southwest, from Texas to 
California. 
Norr.—A dwarf form growing in crevices of rocks, Anticosti Island, at the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence River, collected by Mr. J. Macoun, is probably a new species, of 
which more specimens are needed. 
APERA Adans. 
Characters as in Agrostis, except that the upper empty glume is much 
larger than the floral glume, which is long-awned from the apex, the 
toothed palet nearly as long as its glume, and there is a minute, naked 
pedicel or rudiment of a second flower. 
1. A. spica-venti Beauv. (Gray’s Manual, 6th ed., p. 649.) (Agrostis Beauv. in 
part.) Annual, culms 1 to 2 feet high; panicle spreading or somewhat contracted ; 
rays numerous, filiform, numerously divided; spikelets small (about 1 line long), the 
floral glume roughened toward the apex.—Sparingly naturalized on ballast ground. 
GASTRIDIUM Beauv. 
Spikelets 1-flowered in a loose, tapering, spike-like panicle; outer 
glumes extended into long, acute points, and with an enlarged veutri- 
cose base, obscurely keeled, the lower longer than the upper; flowering 
glume very thin, about one-fourth as long as the outer ones, hairy on 
the back, truncate and dentate at the apex, usually emitting from near 
the apex a slender awn as long as or longer than the glumes; palet thin, 
as long as its glume. A sterile pedicel at the base of the flower. 
1. G. australe Beauv. (Bot., Cal. m1. p. 275.) (G., lendigerum Gaudin.) Culm 6 
inches to 2 feet high, smooth, branching at the lower nodes, geniculate; leaves flat, 2 
to 5 inches long, about 2 lines wide; sheaths rather shorter than the internodes; ligule 
2 lines long, lacerate-fringed ; panicle 3 to 6 inches long, about 4 inch wide, some- 
times lobed, shining, pale green; spikelets about 2 lines long, very acute; empty 
glumes slightly scabrous above, shining below; floral glume hairy; palet equaling 
the glume,—Introduced and very common in Australia. 
CALAMAGROSTIS Roth. 
Spikelets in a contracted, spike-like, or open panicle, with or without 
a bristle-like or hairy rudiment opposite the palet; empty glumes about 
equal, awnless, membranaceous or chartaceous; flowering glume usu- 
ally with a ring of hairs surrounding its base, or a tuft on each side, 
and usually bearing an awn on the back; palet 2-nerved, 2-keeled. The 
spikelets usually larger than in Agrostis, 
