279 



Type specimen collected by W. N. Suksdorf on prairies, Spokane Connty, 

 Washington, in 1884 (No. 118) ; also collected in the Cascade Mountains, Wash- 

 ington, by a. R. Vasey in 1883 and 1889. It i8 said to be the common " bunch 

 grass" of eastern Washington. 

 Pestuca viridula Vasey, 111. N. A. Gr. ii. 93 (1893). Culms 2 to 3 feet high, erect, 

 rather slender, terete, smooth, naked above; radical leaves numerous, narrow, al- 

 most filiform, half as long as the cnlms, smooth ; culm leaves 2 or 3; sheaths long, 

 but shorter than the interuodes ; ligulo a short, ciliate ring; blade 1 line wide 

 or less, 2 or 3 inches long; panicle 4 to 6 inches long, open, of about 6 joints; 

 branches erect, becoming spreading, few-flowered, the lower ones in twos, H *» 

 3^ inches long, capillary, naked below, and with but few (2 to 4) spikolets above; 

 spikelets pale or purplish, 4- to 5-flowered, on short, slender pedicels; empty 

 glumes unequal, the lower about 2 and upper nearly 3 lines long, and broader; 

 floral glumes about 4 lines long, with a distinct callus at the base, linear-lan- 

 ceolate, often denticulate near the acute or mucronate apex, minutely punctate- 

 scabrous, ornearly smooth, rather indistinctly 5-nerved; palet equaling its glume, 

 minutely ciliate at the obtuse apex. 



Type specimen collected by W. N. Suksdorf on Mt. Adams, at 3,000 to 6,000 

 feet altitude, in 1882 ; other specimens collected in the Cascade Mountains, Ore- 

 gon, and the Sierra Nevada, California. This is the Festuca gracillima of Thur- 

 ber in Wats. Bot. Cal. ii. 318, but not of Hooker. The latter has a coarse culm, 

 rigid, involute leaves, larger spikelets, and longer awns, and is a native of the 

 BOiithern hemisphere. 

 Agropyrum caninum (L.) R. & S. Syst. Veg. ii. 756 (1817). Culms 1^ to 3 feet high, 

 usually rather weak; spikes 3 to 6 inches long, usually rather flexuous and some- 

 times nodding, rather lax; spikelets, 3- to 5-flowered; empty glumes 5-nerved, ex- 

 tending into an awn 1 to 5 lines long; floral glumes 4 to 5 lines long, extended 

 into an awn as long to twice as long. 



Mountains of New England, Lake Superior region, and westward on high 

 plains and mountaiTis. 



Our specimens are usually much larger and with longer and thicker spikes 

 than the European ones; the awns varying much in length, some of them 

 straight, others recurved-spreading, approaching J. diferjens Nees. Many speci- 

 mens also have a stilf, erect panicle. 



Variety unilaterale. A. unilaterale Cassidy, Bull. Col. Agric. Exp. Sta. 12. 63 

 (1890). Culms usually much stouter, with rigid, erect spikes, the spikelets more 

 or less one-sided on the rachis. 



Type specimen collected by F. Lamson-Scribner in Montana in 1883 (No. 422). 

 In the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to British Columbia, as high as 8,000 

 feet altitude, and eastward on the high plains to central Nebraska and western 

 Minnesota 

 Agropyrum violaceum (Horuem.) Lange, Consp. Fl. Gr. 155 (1880). Culms 1 to l^feet 

 hi" h ; several from a common rootstock, or densely tufted, erect ; leaves 4 to 6 inches 

 long, Ii to 2 lines wide, tapering from near the base, somewhat scabrous; ligule 

 very short or obsolete, sheaths smooth; spike 2 to 4 inches long, dense or some- 

 times lax, erect, tinged with purple or violet; spikelets 3- to 5- or 7-flowered; 

 empty glumes 5 to 6 lines long, oblong or elliptical-lanceolate, terminating in 

 a short cusp or sometimes in an awn as long as itself, conspicuously 5-nerved, 

 usually with a narrow, scarious margin; floral glumes 4 to 5 lines long without 

 the awn, 5-uerv6d, sparsely pubescent or scabrous on the nerves, terminating in 

 an awn ^ to 3 lines long; palet nearly as long as its glume, scabrous on the 

 keels; internode of rachilla clavate, minutely pubescent, ^to lline long. 



As will bo inferred from the description, there is considerable variation in 

 this species. The typical plant is always eitiier alpine or found in higli lati- 

 tudes, especially in the Rocky Mountaius, the White Mountains, or the Arctic 

 regions. The Norwegian specimens are shorter than ours, with less dense spikes. 



