87 
uairs, connate at the base, 3-nerved, acutish; floral glume little shorter than the 
empty ones, sparsely pubescent or nearly smooth, with an awn below the middle and 
extending one-third beyond thespikelet.—Alaska, Arctic coast and islands, to Hudson’s 
Bay and Greenland. 
3. A. Californicus Vasey. Bull. Torr. Club, xv. p.13. Culms 8 to 15 inches high, 
weak, geniculate, ascending, sheaths inflated, smooth, shorter than the internodes ; 
blades 2 to 6 inches long ; spike cylindrical, 1 to 1} inches long, 2 to3 lines thick, less 
dense than in A. pratensis or A. geniculatus; spikelets 14 lines long or less; empty 
glumes only slightly united below, obtusish or barely acute, sparsely pubescent or 
nearly smooth, except on the ciliate midnerve ; awn from near the base, twice or 
thrice as long as itself; floral glume a little shorter than the empty ones, smooth, 
obtuse.—Santa Cruz, (Dr. Anderson), San Diego, Cal. (C. R. Orcutt). 
4. A. geniculatus Linn, Culm ascending, often bent at the lower joints, 8 to 12 
inches long, 4 to many (when prostrate) nodes: leaves 1 to 2 inches long, the upper 
shorter with more inflated sheath; spike 1 to 14 inches long, 2 lines thick, cylindrical, 
dense; spikelets slightly more than 1 line long; empty glumes sparsely ciliate on mid- 
nerve, obtuse, connate at the base; floral glume about equal to the empty glumes, 
smooth, obtuse, awn from near the base, twice as long as its glume.—Introduced from 
Europe and naturalized in many places. 
Var. ARISTULATUS Torr. (4. aristulatus Michx.). Culms stouter and more erect, 10 
to 18 inches high, less geniculate; leaves 2 to4 inches, attenuated toa fine point, sheaths 
nearly as long as the internodes; spike 14 to 24 inches long, densely tlowered ; 
floral glume awnless to awned, twice as long as the glumes.—Extensively distributed 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Var. RoBUSTUs Vasey. Bull. Torr, Club, xv. p.13. Culms geniculate below, thick, 
simple, or branching, 1 to 14 feet long, smooth; culm leaves 4 or 5, nodes black, 
smooth ; sheaths loose and inflated, 3 to 5 inches long, 3 lines wide, ligule 2 lines 
long, acute ;' spike 2 to 3 inches long, 3 to 4 lines wide, cylindrical, dense; spikelets 
little more than 1 line long; empty glumes little united below, the keels and lateral 
nerves ciliate-pubescent, obtuse and denticulate at the apex; floral glume nearly 
equal to the empty ones, ovate-oblong, obtuse, smooth, the margins united in the 
middle, awn from the middle, slender, little exceeding the glume.—Alaska, Vancou- 
ver Island and British Columbia (J. Macoun). 
5, A. saccatus Vasey. Bot. Gaz. vi. p, 290. Culms 5 to 10 inches high, erect 
or slightly geniculate below, simple; the radical leaves short, cauline about 3, 
the lower sometimes extended into a filiform point, upper ones short, the sheath in- 
flated and generally inclosing the base of the panicle; upper ligules deltoid, acute, 
about 2 lines long; panicle spike like, oblong, L to 1} inches long, comparatively 
loosely flowered ; spikelets 2 lines long, the outer glumes narrowly oblong, obtuse, 
scarious at the apex, slightly united at the base, lateral nerves obscure, the keel and 
margins fringed with silky hairs, otherwise nearly smooth; flowering glume (lower 
palet) oblong, obtuse, smooth, equaling the outer glumes, the margins unitvd more 
than half the length, forming a sack and inclosing the oblong seed, which is one- 
tenth of an inch long; awn twice or thrice as long as the glume, inserted near the 
base ; spikelets, about 60 on an inch of the panicle.—Eastern Oregon (7. J. Howell), 
This species is remarkable for the large size of the spikelets and for the saccate flow- 
ering glume. 
6. A. Howelli Vasey. Annual, 3 to6 inches high ; culms simple, erect or decum- 
bent at the base, with two or three nodes, culm leaves about 3; sheaths about 1 inch 
long, striate, the lower shorter than the internodes, the upper one equaling or longer 
and inclosing the base of the panicle; ligule membranaceous, about 3 line long; 
blades narrow and elonyated or filiform, the lower two exceeding the culm, the 
upper one short, lower surface strongly-nerved and finely scabrous; spike an inch 
long or less, cylindrical-oblong, rather densely-tlowered ; spikelets nearly 14 lines 
long; empty glumes slightly united below, strongly ciliate on the keel and. lat- 
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