POACEAE. 39 



Phleum alpinum L. Mountain Timothy. Stems 20-60 cm. high; leaf 

 blades flat, rather short; spike-like raceme usually purple, cylindric, 2-3 cm. 

 long; awns of glumes 2 mm. long. 



Common in mountain meadows, and along the seacoast to northern 

 California. 



58. POLYPOGON. 



Annual grasses; inflorescence a spike-like panicle; spikelets 

 1 -flowered; glumes each extended into an awn; lemma smaller, 

 generally hyaline, short-awned; palea shorter than the lemma; 

 grain free, enclosed in the lemma and palea. 



Glumes notched at the apex, their awns 2-3 times as long; 



panicle dense, cylindric. P. monspeliensis . 



Glumes attenuate into awns of equal length; panicle lobed 



or interrupted. P. littoralis. 



Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Annual, with erect or ascending stems, 

 8-30 cm. high; leaf blades flat, more or less scabrous; sheaths loose, shorter 

 than the internodes; spike-like panicle densely flowered, oblong, rarely inter- 

 rupted, 2-7 cm. long; glumes elliptic, notched at the apex, about 2 mm. long, 

 each bearing a terminal awn 3 or 4 times as long; lemma truncate, 1 mm. long, 

 bearing a terminal awn somewhat longer. 



Moist places, especially where somewhat saline. 



Polypogon littoralis (With.) Smith. Panicle dense, narrowly oblong, lobed 

 or often interrupted. 



Along the seashore, not common. Tacoma, Flett; Port Angeles, Elmer; 

 Victoria, Vancouver Island, Macoun. 



59. GASTRIDIUM. 



Annual erect grasses with flat leaves; panicle dense, spike-like; 

 spikelets 1 -flowered, narrow, shiny; rachilla produced beyond the 

 floret; glumes saccate at base, much longer than the lemma; 

 lemma hyaline, awnless or awned from just below the apex. 



Gastridium lendigerum (L.) Gaud. Tufted; stems 15-50 cm. high, erect; 

 blades flat, scabrous, 3-5 mm. wide; panicle pale green, shining, spike-like, 

 5-12 cm. long; glumes very acute; lemma hairy. 



Umpqua Valley and southward, introduced. Perhaps not in our limits. 



60. ALOPECURUS. 



Annuals or perennials; inflorescence a spike-like panicle; spike- 

 lets 1-flowered, flattened; glumes acute, sometimes short-awned; 

 lemma 3-nerved, awned on the back; palea usually present. 



Spikelets 2.5 mm. long; panicle slender, 4 mm. thick. A. geniculatus . 

 Spikelets larger; panicle stouter, 6 mm. thick. 



Anthers white; spikelets 4 mm. long. A. saccatus. 

 Anthers orange; spikelets more or less than 4 mm. long. 



Spikelets 5 mm. long. A. pratensis. 



Spikelets 3 mm. long. A. calif ornicus. 



Alopecurus geniculatus fulvus (Smith) Sonder. Pale green and glabrous 

 or nearly so; stems decumbent and branched at base, 15-60 cm. long; leaf 



