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30 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



This plant is easily (listinguislml>le from any of the North American furui.s of 

 F. ovina. Some European puhppecie?, however, as F. orlna vaginata and F, ocina 

 psammophila^ havi', like the Anneric^ plant, the oomlMnation of rigid leaves and 

 awnless lemmas. It nuiy therefore be nece.«sary to reduce our plant to suhspeeific 

 rank. 



17 Festuca viridula Vasey. 



Festuea ciridida Vasey, 111. N. A. Grasses 2: Hli. 189:^ Type in the National Her- 

 barium, collected in California by Bolander. 



Iji the original <lescription Doctor Vasey gives ^'California" as the locality for the 

 species. At that time he had before him, from California, two specimens from Buhm- 

 der and one from Lemmon, all of whicli he labelled Ftdaai iirkluhi in his uwnliand- 

 writing, adding in the case of^one Bolander specimen a mark of doubt. Inasmuch 

 as part at least of the accompanying illustration is drawn from a Bolander specimen, 

 the one so marked without mark of doubt is selected as type. This specimen was 

 received from the Thurber herbarium, labelled Feahica (jnivUiiniu Hook., and is doubt- 

 less the basis of Doctor Vasey's statement to the effect that Thurber was in error in 

 identifying the species \\\ tlie Botany of California as F^'hIucu grf trill iitta Hook. 



In a later publicatioiW Doctor Vasey cites a specimi^n collected by Suksdorf on 

 IVIount Adams, Washington, as the typCj but this statement is inromi^atible with the 

 original description. 



Bolander's specimens probably all came from Summit Statitju^ in the Sierra^■. At 

 least the second specimen above mentioned is ticketed as being from that place. 



OESCKIPTIOX. 



Densely tufted, the coarse roots much interwoven, and the tufts, llierefore, ditheuH 

 to sei)arate; culms erect, smooth, shiny, 3-jointed, 50 .to 100 cm. high; sheaths 

 smooth, striate, shorter than the internodes; ligule very siiort, truncate; blades 

 erect, narrowly liiu^ar, acute at the apex, soft, soaberulous above, strictly 7-nerved, 

 the basal ones usually involute, 10 to 80 cm. long, those of the cuhu shorter, flat or 

 loosely involute; panicle loose and oi>en, suberect, 10 to lo cm. long; rays faintly 

 angled, swollen at base, scabrous, the upper solitary, the lower in i>airs and 5 to 8 cm. 

 long, l>ranchedand spikelet-bcaring near the tip; spikelets oblong, 3 to fi-flowered, 

 10 to 12 nun. h>ng, i)ale green or more commonly purple; joints of the rachilla scab- 

 rous, cylindric, 1 to 2 nun. long; glumes membranous, smooth or nearly so, the 

 lower lanceolate, l-nerved^ about 2.5 mm. long, the upper ovate, subacute, 3-nerved, 

 scarious-margined; lemma firm, membranaceous, keeled toward the apex, 5-nerved, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, or stnnewbat mucronate, often somewhat denticulate near 

 the apex, smooth or nearly so, shining rather than <lull, 6 to 7 mm. long; palea about 

 equaling the lemma, obtuse, the nerves ciliate. 



The species is common in subalpine meadows in AVashington, Oregon, and Idaho, 

 and ranges south in the Sierras to middle California. 



18. Festuca liowellii Hack. 



Festuca howeU'd Hack.; Beal, (Srasses N. Am. 2: 591. 1896. Type in Herbarium 

 IMichigan Agricultural College, collected by Thomas Howell, in the mountains at the 

 head of Deer Creek, Josepliine County, Oregon, July 5, 1887; a duplicate in the 

 National Herbarium. No othef S]>ccimens tlian those of the type collection are 

 known. 



"Contr. Nat. Herb. 1: 279. 



