GRASS FAMILY 



193 



13. Melica torreyana Soribn. 

 Torrey's ■Nlelica. Fig. 442. 



Melica torreyana Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1885: 43. 1885. 



Culms from a loose and decumbent base, 30-100 

 cm. tall, not bulbous ; blades flat, lax ; panicle nar- 

 row, rather loose, the branches more or less fascicled, 

 appressed or ascending, the lower fascicles distant ; 

 spikelets 4-6 mm. long, with 1 or 2 perfect florets 

 and a rudiment ; glumes strongly nerved, nearly as 

 long as spikelet : lemmas pubescent ; rudiment long- 

 pediceled, obovoid-truncate. divergent. 



Thickets and banks at low altitudes, in the Arid Transition 

 Zone; central California, especially in the Bay region. Apr.- 

 June. Type locality: Xew .Alniaden. 



Melica 



California 

 Type local 



14. Melica imperfecta Trin. 

 Small-riowered ^Melica. Fig. 44.t. 



Melica imperfecta Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 



2': 59. 1836. 

 Melica colpodioides Nees, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1: 283. 1838. 

 Melica panicoides Nutt. Tourn. Acad. Phila. II. 1: 188. 1848. 

 Melica poaeoides Nntt. journ. Acad. Phila. II. 1: 188. 1848. 

 Poa thurheriana Vasey, U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. Bull. 13-: 



pi. 84. 1893 (as to plant figured). 

 Melica parishii Vasey; Beal, Grasses X. Am. 2: 500. 1896. 



Culms erect. 30-100 cm. tall; blades narrow, usu- 

 ally not over 2 mm. wide ; panicle narrow, 5-30 cm. 

 in length, the branches more or less fascicled, long 

 and short together; spikelets 4-6 mm. long, purple- 

 tinged, usually with 1 perfect floret and a rudiment ; 

 glumes indistinctly nerved ; lemma a little longer 

 than the glumes, smooth, indistinctly nerved, obtuse ; 

 rudiment oblong, short-stipitate, appressed to the 

 palea. 



Dry open woods and rocky hillsides. Arid Transition and 

 Upper Sonoran Zones; Coast Ranges from the Bay region south 

 into Lower California. Mar.-June. Type locality: California. 



Melica imperfecta refracta Thurb. in S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 

 2: 303. 1880. Lower branches of panicle spreading or re- 

 fle.xed; blades pubescent. Southern California. Type locality: 

 San Bernardino. 



Melica imperfecta flexuosa Boland. Proc. Calif. Acad. 4: 

 101. 1870. Lower branches of panicle spreading or refle.xed: 

 blades glabrous. Central California to Lower California. Type 

 locality: "Mariposa to Clark's." 



imperfecta minor Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1885: 42. 1885. Southern California and Lower 

 Blades glabrous, very narrow; plant low, less than 30 cm. tall, a scarcely distinct variety. 

 ity : San Bernardino Mountains. 



58. PLEUROPOGON R. Br. Suppl. App. Parry's Voy. 180. pi. D. 1823. 



Spikelets several- to many-flowered, linear, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes 

 and between the florets; glumes unequal, membranaceous or subhyaline. scarious at the 

 somewhat lacerate tip, the first 1-nerved, the second indistinctly 3-nerved ; lemmas mem- 

 branaceous, 7-nerved, with a round indurate callus at base, the apex entire or 2-toothed. 

 the midnerve extending into a short mucro or into an awn ; palea 2-keeled, the keels winged. 

 Soft annuals or perennials with flat blades and loose racemes of rather large spikelets. 

 [Greek, side-beard.] 



Species 3, 1 in the arctic region, 2 on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Type species, Plcuro- 

 pogon sabinii R. Br. 



Lemmas about 6 mm. long, scabrous and strongly nerved; spikelets not refracted; culm usually not over 

 60 cm. tall. ^- ^- <:alt]or,ucus. 



Lemmas about 8 mm. long, smooth or slightly scabrous; spikelets often refracted; culms iisually over 

 1 meter tall. ^- "^^ '''/'^'"■'"•f- 



