16 Rhodora [JANUARY 
vaginis auriculatis angustiores. Ligulae circa 0.5 mm. longae, mem- 
branaceae erosaeque. Laminae e basi plus minus planato involutae, 
5-16 cm. longae, basi ad 3 mm. latae, valde patentes rigidaeque, 
infra glabrae laevesque, supra in nervis scabrae marginibus praecipue 
basin versus barbulatis. Inflorescentia compacta e vagina superiore 
plus minus exserta, aliquando a folio subtendente superata, 4-8.5 cm. 
longa ad 1 em. lata; rachi internodiis superioribus exceptis fere glabro. 
Spiculae 1.2-1.5 cm. longae, lateraliter compressae, paullum diver- 
gentes, 3-5-florae; glumae duas tertias spiculorum longitudine 
aequantes, glabrae, inferior 7-nervata, circa 8 mm. longa, carina 
apicem acutiusculum versus barbulata, superior 5-nervata, circa 
9 mm. longa, carina apicem acutiusculum vel minute mucronulatum 
versus barbulata; lemmata glabra, 5-nervata, ad apicem in subulam 
ad 4 mm. longam dorso barbulatam abrupte contracta, circa 1-1.2 
cm. longa; paleae 2-carinatae carinis barbulatis, quam lemmata 
breviores, ad apicem minute ciliolatae, truncatae paullum retusatae. 
Very glaucous with a long, scaly, pale brown rootstock: culms 
solitary or few to a clump, 2-6.5 dm. tall, 3-noded, glabrous; nodes 
much constricted and flexible when fresh; innovations two to several, 
much shorter than the culms; basal sheaths several, glabrous, some of 
them bladeless; those of the culms smooth and glabrous except the 
sometimes short-ciliate margins, the lower purplish-pink, about 
equalling or exceeding the internodes (those of the innovations longer 
than the internodes), the upper shorter than the internodes, all auricu- 
late and contracted to the blade at the throat: ligules about 0.5 mm. 
long, membranaceous and erose:, blades involute from a flattened 
base, 5-16 em. long, 3 mm. broad at base, strongly spreading and 
rigid, lower surface glabrous and smooth, upper surface scabrous on 
the nerves, margins barbulate especially toward the base: inflores- 
cence compact, more or less exserted from the upper sheath, sometimes 
exceeded by the subtending leaf, 4-8.5 cm. long, up to 1 cm. broad, 
the rachis almost glabrous except the upper internodes which are 
slightly barbulate: spikelets 1.2-1.5 cm. long, laterally compressed, 
slightly divergent, 3-5-flowered; glumes about } as long as the spike- 
lets, inferior 7-nerved, about 8 mm. long, iaibailate on the keel toward 
the acutish apex, superior 5-nerved, about 9 mm. long, barbulate 
on the keel toward the acutish or minutely mucronulate apex; lem- 
mas glabrous, abruptly narrowed to a subulate tip which is up to 4 mm. 
long and barbulate dorsally, about 1-1.2 em. long; paleas 2-keeled, 
with the keels barbulate, shorter than the lemmas, truncate and 
slightly notched at the minutely ciliolate apex.— Nova Scorta: 
dry sandy beach of Bras d’Or Lake, Grand Narrows, Cape Breton, 
July 20, 1914, Fernald & St. John in Plantae Exsiccatae Grayanae (TYPE 
in Gray Herb.), also Grand Narrows, July 27, 1898, John Macoun, 
Herb. Geol. Surv. Can. no. 21,030, distributed as A. occidentale. 
Allied to A. Smithit Rydb. from which it differs in the constricted 
and flexible nodes of the culm, the more involute blades which are 
