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153 



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Grasses in the Wrong Genus Cover. 



By W. J. Beal. 



III the Bulletin, page tt, i888j are described some new 

 species of grasses, among them Poa macrantJia^ Vasey, and 

 Poa argentca^ T. Howell. I believe these belong to the genus 



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Melica. 



Melica ARGENTEA (Howell). An erect, loosely-tufted per- 

 ennial, 15-20 cm. high. Radical leaves numerous, curved, con- 

 duplicate, '^-'j cm. long, in cross section oblong, 0.6-O.8 mm. 



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diameter, bulliform cells wanting, apex obtuse, sheaths loose, 

 membranous, ligule 2-3 mm. long, blades of the culm 2, condu- 

 plicatc, I r -nerved, 1.5 cm. long by L3 mm. diameter, ligule acute 

 3-5 mm. long. Panicle oblong, spike-like, 2-3 cm. long. Spike- 

 lets oblong-linear, 6-8 mm. long, 3-5 flowered, joint of rachilla 

 T.7-2 mm. long. All the glumes brownish shining, with broad 

 scarious margins. Empty glumes subequal, 3 -4- 5 -nerved, obo- 

 vate, ovate^ variously lobed, toothed or entire, 3.5-5 mm. long; 

 floral glume oval or obovate when spread, denticulate, 5 "^"7" 

 nerved, nn"nutely scabrid or smooth, 5.5 mm. long, palea lanceo- 

 late, about the length of its glume, scabrous on the keels, an- 

 thers 3, 2.5 mm. long. 



The following, among other things, hidicate that this Is a spe- 

 cies of Melica : the soft, smooth or scarious obovate or irregu- 

 larly toothed glumes, empty glumes often 4-5-nerved, the long 

 spongy joints of the rachilla, the floral glume without hair at the 

 base, often 6-7 nerved, the nerves evanescent, not connivent 



above. 



Plants from T. Howell ticketed Poa argcntca, Howell, col- 

 lected in Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon, July 18, 1887; also from 

 U. S. Agr. Dept. ticketed Poa inacraiitha, Vasey, collected on 

 sea coast, Oregon, by Thomas Howell. 



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Melica MACRANTHA, (Vasey). — A smooth stout perennial 

 3-4 dm. high, ascending from creeping rootstocks. ' Leaves of 

 the culm, excepting 2-^ of the upper ones, bear in their axils 

 non-flowering leafy branches. Leaves of these branches condu- 

 plicate, curved and flexuose, often extending to the panicle, the 

 extreme apex obtuse or abruptly pointed, in cross-section oval or 



