"-rT> '^t ' 



PIPER NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF FESTUCA. 31 



DE^^CKIPTIOX. 



Densely tufted, with coarse matted rootf^; culms erect or -^^eniculate at base, 

 3-jointed, 60 to 70 cm. high; sheaths smo(jth, mo&-tly shorter than the iiiternodes; 

 ligule very short; blades loosely involute, shining, narrowly linear, scabrid above, 

 8 to 15 em. long, about 4 mm. wide, acute at apex; panicle loose and open, 8 to 10 

 em. long; lower rays in pairs, the up])er solitary, each pulvillus-bearing at base, 

 subterete, scaberulous, naked beknv; si^ikelets o1)longj 8 to 12 nnn. long, 4 or 5-flow- 

 ered, piiri>le-tinged; joints of the rachilla cylindric, scaberulous, 1 mm. long; glumes 

 lanceolate, glal)rous or nearly so. the lower 1-nerved, 2 to 3 mm. long, the upper 

 3-nerved, about 4 mm. long; lemma niend>rana('e(jns, Ihiear-lanceolate, strongly 

 5-nerved, appressed-hispiduli^us, 6 nnn, long, attenuate into a straight scabrous awn 



about 2 mni, long; palea obtuse, about etpialing the lemma, somewhat scabrous. 

 Platk IX. 



f 



r 



Explanation of Plate.— Drawn from ilu|)lu-att! typt* from '24s Jloutll, (foUocted in Deer Creek 

 Wountnins, Oregon. Pluiit one-half iiaturul Hizo; dutail.s magnitled Hve timus. 



19. Festuca altaica Trin. 



Fedaca uUalca Trin. in Ledeb. Fl. Alt. 1: 10!), 1829. ''In summa alpe ad fontemfl. 

 Acjnlac rarisHijna.'^ 



Festura Hcahrel/a Torr. ; Hook. 1-i. Jiur. Am. 2: 252. 1840. Tyi)e probably at the 

 British ^luseumj collected in the Rocky Mountains by Drummond. Duplicates of 

 the same are in the Torrey Ib^rbarinm and in the Gray Herbarium. 



Tfie Drummond f^pecimens are most nearly matched in recent cuUectionri by plants 

 collected on Mount Albert, * Jaspe, by Allen in 1881 and 1882. No recent collection 

 seems to have been made near the type locality. Hooker's figure whowH a panicle 

 with ascending rays, but tiie Ciray Herbarium specimens show si)reading rays as in 

 most northern material. The nearly smooth an<l loosely involute' leaves are likewise 

 characters wbi(*b ally the plant to allfdra proper, ratlier than to the more scabrous 

 plant of the United States, which, howt^ver, it resembles in its ratfierdull spikelets. 



DKSCKIiTIOX, 



Densely tufted, wltli numerous basal, knives; culms erect, smootli or nearly so, 2- 

 jointeilj HO to 90 cm. liigh; slieaths striate, smooth or the uppermost scabrous; ligule 

 very short; blades mostly involute^ smooth or s(*abrous beneath, especially towanl 

 the ajjex, hisiiidulous above; }»anicle amj>le, loose and open, erect, 10 to 20 cni. long; 

 rays mostly in pairs in about G vertii-els, slender, flexuous, naked behnv the mid- 

 dle, bran<'hed above, pulvillate-thickened at })ase; spikelets broadly oblong, 3 to 

 5-flowered, 12 to lo nun. long, yellowish-green, or more commonly coppery or pur- 

 ple; florets close, nearly parallel to the rachilhi; joints of the rachilla cylindric or 

 slightly clavate, scabrous, 2 to o mm. long; ghimes smooth, or scabrous near the 

 a|>ex, the lower oblong-lanceolate, obtusish, bnerved, (5 to 7 nnn. long, the upper 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, 8-nerved,S lu 9 mm. lon^r; lennnalanceolate-<>vate, attenuate- 

 acute, 5-nerved, finely and densely scabrous, somewhat shiny, 10 to 12 nun. long, 

 flrm-membranaceous; palea oblongdanceolate, notche<l at apex, tfie inflexed sides 

 more than half as broad as the internerve, the nerves hispifhiU>us. 



The species ranges through Siberia, an.l in North America occurs in Alaska, Yukon, 

 and on Mount Albert, tiuel)ec. 



20. Festuca hallii (Vasey). 



MeVica haUll Vasey, Bot. (Jaz. 6: 29(k 1881. Type specimens in the National Her- 

 barium, collected in the Rocky MonTitains, latitude 39° to-^l°, by TTaJl <{- Jfnrhour 

 (no. (i21), in 1802. These specimens have a narrow strict panicle, and are evidently 

 froju high altitudes. 



