142 



POACEAE 



20. CRYPSIS Ait. Hoft. Kew. 1 : 48. 1789. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating below the glumes, not prolonged behind 

 the palea ; glumes about equal, narrow, acute ; lemma broad, thin, awnless ; palea similar to 

 the lemma, about as long, 2-nerved, readily splitting between the nerves ; fruit a utricle, the 

 seed free from the thin pericarp. A spreading annual, with capitate inflorescences in the 

 axils of broad bracts, these being enlarged sheaths with short rigid blades. [Greek, hiding, 

 from the partially concealed inflorescence.] 



Species 1, in the Mediterranean region, sparingly introduced into the United States. Type species, 

 Schoenus aculcatus L. 



1. Crypsis aculeata (L.) Ait. 

 Sharp-leaved Crypsis. Fig. 310. 



Schoenus aculeatus L. Sp. PL 42. 1753. 

 3 Crypsis aculeata Ait. Hort. Kew. 1: 48. 1789. 



Plants prostrate, the mats 30 cm. in diameter, or 

 often depauperate, 1-2 cm. wide; glumes about 3 

 nun. long, tninutely hispid, about equal in length, 

 the first narrower; lemma about as long as the 

 glumes, scabrous on the keel. 



In overflowed land of the interior valley (Colusa, Chico, 

 Norman, Stockton). September. Type locality, European. 



Heleochloa alopecuroides Host has been found on ballast 

 near Portland (Siiksdorf) . It is a low spreading perennial 

 with oblong dense spikelike panicles, the subtending leaves 

 witli inflated sheaths and reduced blades. 



21. PHLEUM L. Sp. PI. 59. 1753. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally compressed, in dense cylindrical spikelike panicles; rachilla 

 disarticulating above the glumes; glumes equal, membranaceous, keeled, abruptly mucronate 

 or awned: lemma shorter than the glumes, hyaline, broadly truncate, 3-5-nerved ; palea 

 narrow, nearly as long as the lemma. Annual or perennial grasses with erect culms and flat 

 blades. [Greek, a kind of reed.] 



About 10 species in the temperate region of both hemispheres. Type species, Phlcum pratense L. 



Heads cylindrical, several times longer than wide. 



Heads ovoid or oblong, one and one-half to two times as long as wide 



1. Phleum pratense L. 



Timothy. Fig. 311. 



Phleum pi-atcnse L. Sp. PI. 59. 1753. 



Culms 50-100 cm. tall, from a swollen or bulb-like base, 

 forming large clumps ; panicles long-cylindrical, 3-10 cm. 

 long; awn of glumes 1 mm. long. 



Commonly escaped from cultivation, along roadsides and in fields 

 and waste places throughout our range e-xcept in the deserts and 

 alpine regions. May-June. Type locality, European. 



1. F. pratense. 



2. F- alpinum. 



2. Phleum alpinum L. 



Alountain Timothy. Fig. 312. 



Phleum alpinum L. Sp. PI. 59. 1753. 



Culms 20-50 cm. tall, from a decurnbent, somewhat 

 creeping base; panicles ellipsoid or short-cylindric ; awn 

 of glumes 2 mm. long, giving the head a bristly ap- 

 pearance. 



Common in mountain meadows, in bogs and wet places through- 

 out our range, Alpine and Hudsonian Zones; in the cooler regions 

 of North America and Eurasia, extending south in the mountains 

 to Mexico and South America. July-Aug. Type locality, Euro- 



Phleum graecum Boiss. & Heldr. and P. bellardi Willd., annual 

 species introduced from Europe, have been found on ballast near 

 Portland (Suksdorf). 



