19101 Pease & Moore,— Agropyron caninum and Allies 65 
representing the type,! together with a thick-spiked plant having a 
strong violet color. Every variation in leaves from revolute to flat 
and broadish is to be noted. Not one of the members of the group 
under discussion fails to show an indefinite violet tinge at times. ‘The 
color shades off into the colorless or green condition too imperceptibly 
to give rise even to color forms. ‘The tendency is a very common one 
throughout the Grasses, so that it does not seem noteworthy. 
Following Piper, l. c., Hitchcock, in the seventh edition of Gray's 
Manual,’ uses for Agropyron violaceum (Hornem.) Lange the name 
A. biflorum (Brign.) R. & S. The original publication of Triticum 
biflorum by Brignoli was not accessible to us; but fortunately it is 
copied by Roemer and Schultes.” The conspicuous point in the origi- 
nal description, reiterated by them, 1s that the glumes are 3-nerved. 
The glumes of our American plants are 5-7-nerved. ‘This distinction 
has been held by monographers of the genus to be important, vet, 
although Hitchcock credits our plant with having 5-7 nerves he calls 
it A. biflorum. Another, not insignificant objection to accepting the 
name is the peculiar range. Roemer and Schultes note it from, “Monte 
Matajur,*" and while later European authors extend this range a little, 
all that we have found agree that it is a quite local plant? European 
authors, who should be more familiar with A. biflorum than the meagre 
representation of rare European plants in American herbaria permits 
us to be, do not generally hold the view that A. biflorum and A. vio- 
laceum are identical, but only closely related. Ascherson and Graebner, 
for example, treat the latter as two varieties of a subspecies, biflorum, 
of Triticum repens L., A. virescens and B. Hornemanni. Nyman? 
believes that Triticum biflorum is distinct, and says, 
Ascherson and Graebner are of the opinion that Nyman's plant is 
virescens. The following quotation from their Synopsis is indicative 
of the uncertainty which surrounds the name T. biflorum: ‘Eine sehr 
kritische Pflanze, die trotz ihrer fast stehts sehr eigenartige Tracht 
kaum durch scharfe Merkmale von T. eu-repens getrennt ist." These 
authors also note the three nerves, ‘‘ Hüllspelzen lanzettlich (wenigstens 
“gramen rarius." 
! At least, there is a specimen of this phase in the Gray Herbarium which was collected 
in Greenland by J. Vahl, the collector of the type. It may well be the material of the 
type collection itself. 
? Ed. VII, 166 (1908). 
3 L.— R. & S. Syst. Veg. ii, 756 (1817). 
4 Near Görz. 
5 'The reference of it to Syria by the Index Kewensis is probably a mistake. 
6 Consp. Flor. Europ. 841-842. 
