136 



POACEAE 



4. Oryzopsis kingii ( Boland. ) Beal. 

 King's Alountain-rice. Fig. 294. 



Sfita kingii Boland. Proc. Calif. Acad. 4: 170. 1872. 

 Oryzopsis kingii Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 229. 1896, 



Culms tufted, slender, 20-40 cm. tall ; blades numerous 

 at the base of the plant, involute, capillary; ligule about 

 1 mm. long; panicle narrow, loose, the short slender 

 branches appressed or ascending, few-flowered ; glumes 

 broad, papery, nerveless, obtuse, purple at base, unequal, 

 the first about 3.5 mm. long, the second a little longer; 

 lemma elliptic, 3 mm. long, rather sparingly appressed- 

 pubescent, the callus short ; awn more or less sickle- 

 shaped, bent in a wide curve or indistinctly geniculate 

 below the middle, not twisted, minutely pubescent, not 

 readily deciduous, about 12 mm. long. 



Dry open ground, Hudsonian and Alpine Zones; high central 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains. July-Aug. Type locality: Mount Dana. 



5. Oryzopsis hymenoides ( Roem. & Schiilt.) 

 Ricker. Indian Mountain-rice. Fig. 295. 



Stipa membranacca Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 2: 728. 1814, not L. 



1753. 

 Stipa hymenoides Roem. & Schult. Syst. \ eg. 2: 339. 181/. 

 Eriocoma cuspidate Nutt. Gen. PI. 1^: 40. 1818. 

 Orvsopsis ciispidata Benth. ; Vasey, Grasses U. S. 23. 1883. 

 Or'vcopsis membranacca Vasey, U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. Bull. 



"12: 10. pi. 10. 1891. 

 Eriocoma membranacca Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 232. 1896. 

 Orysopsis hymenoides Ricker; Piper, Contr. U. S. Xat. Herb. 11: 

 "109. 1906. 



Culms cespitose, 30-60 cm. tall; sheaths smooth or 

 minutely scabrous ; ligule about 6 mm. long, acute ; blades 

 slender, elongate, nearly as long as the culms ; panicle 

 diffuse, 7-15 cm. long, the slender branches in pairs, the 

 branchlets dichotomous, all divaricately spreading, the 

 ultimate pedicels capillary, flexuous, enlarged below the 

 spikelets ; glumes equal, about 6 mm. long, puberulent, 

 papery, ovate, 3-nerved, abruptly narrowed into an awn- 

 like point ; lemma fusiform, turgid, about 3 mm. long, 

 nearly black at maturity, densely long-pilose with hairs 

 3 min. long; awn when present about 4 mm. long, 

 straight, readily deciduous. 



Deserts and plains, in the Upper Sonoran Zone; eastern Washington and Oregon southern and eastern 

 California, east to the Great Plains. Apr.-July. Type locality: "On the banks of the Missouri. 



6. Oryzopsis webberi (Thurb.) Benth. 

 Webber's ]\Iountain-rice. Fig. 296. 



Eriocoma webberi Thurb. in S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 283. 



1880. 

 Ory::opsis wcbheri Benth.; Vasey, Grasses U. S. 2i. 1883. 



Culms cespitose. erect, 15-30 cm. tall: blades in- 

 volute, filiform, scabrous ; panicle narrow, 2.5-5 cm. 

 long, the branches appressed ; glumes equal, narrow, 

 obscurely 5-nerved, minutely scaberulous, acuminate, 

 about 8 mm. long ; lemma narrow, 6 mm. long, densely 

 long-pilose, the awn about 6 mm. long, straight or 

 l)ent, not twisted. 



Deserts and plains. Transition Zone; Lassen and Plumas 

 Counties, California, to Colorado. August. Type locality: 

 Sierra Vallev, California. 



