62 Rhodora [APRIL 
or Agropyron caninum with long, recurved awns, as, indeed, Ledebour 
considers it. Again, by a lengthening out of the awns, there is an 
imperceptible transition from A. caninum to A. Richardsoni (Trin.) 
Schrad., as defined by Scribner and Smith. It is also possible to 
view A. violaceum (Hornem.) Lange, together with its varieties lati- 
glume and andinum, as short-spiked representatives of A. caninum. 
Another noteworthy feature of the group is a striking parallelism, in 
that almost every variety has a smooth and a hairy development. 
The Agropyra in question belong to the non-stoloniferous group. 
While this distinction, based on the presence or absence of stolons, may 
seem an artificial one, it is so generally considered important in the 
Gramineae and Cyperaceae that we cannot with Ascherson and Graeb- 
ner subordinate A. violaceum to Triticum repens, nor can we follow 
Beal,” who describes A. repens (L.) Beauv. var. tenerum (Vasey) Beal.‘ 
The earliest specific name in the group is A. caninum (L.) Beauv., 
which goes back to the name Triticum caninum L., of the first edition 
of the Species Plantarum. Linnaeus here discusses two species, T. 
repens and T. caninum. Of the former he says, ‘‘radice repente," of 
the latter, “calycibus subulatis quadrifloris aristatis." The authors 
of the synonyms of T. caninum cited by him all indicate plants 
with aristae. ‘The first synonym given is Gramen caninum non repens 
elatius spica aristata Moris? The two remaining synonyms contain 
the word," repens," and the accompanying descriptions state that the 
plants are stoloniferous; the species is therefore a mixture, as so 
many of the Linnaean species are. The first mentioned synonym 
and the type-description are clear, and must hence be taken as conclu- 
sive. Morison says that the stem of his plant is glabrous, but is not 
explicit as to the leaves. Buxbaum repeats the description given by 
Morison. Both give figures — Buxbaum's being especially good — 
each of which plainly represents a glabrous species with aristae of 
medium length, such as 4. caninum has been held to be. Linnaeus 
was not satisfied with his first treatment, so that in the Flora Suecica ê 
a 
1 U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Bull. no. 4, 29 (Feb. 6, 1897). 
2 T. repens L. B. T. biflorum (Brign.) A. & G. A. virescens (Lange) A. & G. Syn. Mittel- 
europ. Flora, ii, 1, 654 (Dec. 10, 1901). 
3 Grasses N. A. ii, 637 (1896). 
4 It is perhaps worthy of note that many of the variations described below, based upon 
length of spikes and of awns and presence of pubescence and glaucousness, are paralleled, 
in greater or less degree, by variations in A, repens (L.) Beauv 
5 Pl. Hist. Univ. Oxon. iii, 177, t. 1, fig. 2, sect. 8 (1715); Buxb. Pl. minus cogn. circ, 
Byzant. Orient. Observ. cent. iv, 29, t. 50 (1733). 
€ Ed. II, 39 (1755). 
