294 



i 



confusHs, The true Sporobohis ranmlosus has not yet been col- 

 lected within our limits, but it is probably identical with 5. ^-ace- 

 mosus, Vasey, collected by Dr. Palmer, and No. 1425 of Pringle, 

 both from Chihuahua, Mexico, 



Melica Smitiiii (Porter), I recently received from Prof W, 

 J. Beal, specimens o{ Avoia Smithii^ Porter, collected in North- 

 ern Michigan, I had long suspected the proper reference of this 

 grass to Avcna ; and these specimens enabled me to make a satis- 

 factory examination, which resulted in the opinion that it should 

 be placed in the genus Melica, and therefore M, Smiihii, It will 

 be observed that in Prof Porter's description it is stated that the 

 flowers are not hairy-tufted at the base, and the awni is straight, 

 characters which chiefly distinguish Melica from Avena. The 

 species is very near Melica aristata, Thurb, 



Geo. Vasey. 



Notes on Some Rare Grasses. 



The writer, on a recent visit to the West, spent some time at 

 Garden City, in western Kansas. This place is located on the 

 north bank of the Arkansas River. On the south side of the 



4 

 % 



river is a range of sand hills which, the people say, were some 

 years ago bare of vegetation and composed of loose and shifting 

 sand, but which of late years have been gradually acquiring a 

 covering of grass. I went to investigate these ridges or hills and 

 found that the principal vegetation was made up of two kinds of 

 grass, which were deeply rooted in the sand. 



One of these was Andropogon Hallii^ very similar to A. pro- 

 vincialis^ but with thicker spikes and culms, and more succulent, 

 bluish-green leaves. The other grass was, to my great gratifica- 

 tion, Redficldia flexiiosa, growing rather sparsely from deep 

 rooted creeping rhizomas, and serving to bind the sand togetlier 

 in the same way that Ammophila longifolia binds the sand dunes 

 on the lake shore near Chicago. The history of this grass is 

 interesting. It appears to have been first collected by Dr. J. M. 

 Bigelow on the Canadian River. Next it was' collected by Mr. 

 Elisha Hall, in 1862, probably on the Republican River, although 

 the locality is not recorded. The grasses of Mr. Hall's collection 

 were elaborated by Prof. Thurber, and this grass was then 



