GRASS FAMILY 



147 



26. POLYPOGON Desf. Fl. Atlant. 1 : 66. 1798. 



Spikelets 1-flovvered, the pedicel disarticulating a short distance below the glumes, 

 leaving a short pointed callus attached, the rachilla not prolonged behind the palea ; 

 glumes equal, entire or 2-lobed, awned from the tip or from between the lobes, the awn 

 slender, straight; lemma much shorter than the glumes, hyaline, bearing in our species a 

 slender straight awn shorter than the awns of the glumes (awnless in P. maritimus). 

 Annual or perennial usually decumbent grasses with fiat blades and dense bristly spikclike 

 panicles. [Greek, many beards.] 



Species about 10 in the temperate regions of the world. Type species, Alopecurus monspeliensis L. 



Plant perennial; awn of glumes 1-3 mm. long. 

 Plant annual; awn of glumes 6-10 mm. long. 



Glumes slightly lobed, the lobes not ciliate. 



Glumes prominently lobed, the lobes ciliate-fringed. 



1. Polypogon lutosus (Poir.) Hitchc. 

 Beard-grass. Fig. 324. 



Agrostis litt oralis With. Bot. Arr. Veg. Brit. ed. 3. 2: 129. pi. 



23. 1796, not Lam. 1791. 



Polypogon litt oralis J. E. Smith, Comp. Fl. Brit. 13. 1800. 



Agrostis liitosa Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 1: 249. 1810. 



Polypogon lutosiis Hitchc. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 772: 138. 1920. 



Perennial ; culms geniculate at base. 30-80 cm. tall ; 

 sheaths scabrous ; ligule 2-4 mm. long or the upper- 

 most longer ; panicles oblong, 5-15 cm. long, more or 

 less interrupted or lobed; glumes equal, scabrous on 

 back and keel. 2-3 mm. long, terminated by an awn 

 as long ; lemma smooth and shining, 1 mm. long, 

 minutely toothed at the truncate apex ; awn about as 

 long as the glumes. 



Introduced from Europe, from Vancouver Island to New 

 Mexico. In California, in waste places, especially along irri- 

 gating ditches at moderate altitudes. June-Aug. Type locality, 

 European. 



1. P. lutosus. 



2. P. monspeliensis. 



3. P. maritimus. 



2. Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf. 

 Annual LJeard-grass, Rabbit's Foot. Fig. 325. 



Alopecurus monspeliensis L. Sp. PI. 61. 1753. 

 Polypogon monspeliensis Desf. Fl. Atlant. 1: 67. 1798. 



Annual ; culms erect or decumbent at base, 

 scabrous below panicle, depauperate or as much 

 as 1 meter tall ; sheaths smooth, the ligule large ; 

 panicles dense and spike-like, 2-15 cm. long, 1-2 

 cm. wide, tawny-yellow when mature ; glumes his- 

 pidulous, 2 mm. long, terminating in an awn 6-8 

 mm. long, or rarely longer ; lemma as in P. lutosus. 



Introduced from Europe; common in waste places and 

 along irrigating ditches at moderate altitudes, Alaska to 

 Me.\ico; occasional in the Atlantic States. June-Aug. 

 Type locality, European. 



3. Polypogon maritimus W'illd. 

 Maritime Ueard-grass. Fig. 326. 



Polypogon maritimus Willd. Neue Schrift. Ges. Naturf. Freund. 

 Berlin Mag. 3: 443. 1801. 



Annual: culms 20-30 cm. tall, upright or spreading; 

 sheaths smooth ; ligule as much as 6 mm. long ; blades 

 usually less than 5 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide ; panicle 

 cylindric, scarcely lobed, 5 cm. long or less, 1 cm. 

 thick ; glumes lanceolate, about 3 mm. long, villous, 

 deeply 2-lobed, the lobes ciliate-fringed, the awn as 

 much as 7 mm. long. 



New York Falls, Amador County, California (Hansen). In- 

 troduced from Europe, the type locality. June. 



