GRASS FAMILY 



7^; 



25. Festuca supina Schur. 

 Small Sheep Fescue. Fig. 528. 



Festuca supina Schur, Enuin. PI. Trans. 784. 1866. 

 Festuca ovina supina Hack. Bot. Centralbl. 8: 405. 1881. 



Culms erect, densely tufted, 7-15 cm. tall ; blades 

 numerous, usually less than half the length of the 

 culms, involute, smooth, firm and hard, scarcely 

 angled in drying ; inflorescence about as in F. brachy- 

 pliylla, the lemmas firmer, narrower, involute and 

 more scabrous, the florets looser and more numer- 

 ous and the awn longer. 



In the Alpine Zone; extending south on the high peaks 

 of the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains. July- 

 Aug. Type locality, European. 



26. Festuca brachyphylla Sclnilt. 

 Alpine Fescue. My,'. T'29. 



Festuca brcvifolia R. Br. Suppl. App. Parry's Voy. 289. 



1824, not Muhl. 1817. 

 Festuca brachyphylla Schult. Mant. 3: 646. 1827. 

 Festuca o'ina brevifolia S. Wats, in King, Geol. E.xpl. 



40th Par. 5: 389. 1871. 

 Festuca ovina brachvphvlla Piper, Contr. U. S. Nat. 



Herb. 10: 27. 1906. 



Culms erect, tufted, lU-15 cm. high; blades 

 about half as long as the culms, filiform, soft, 

 angled in drying, the tissue soft between the 

 angles ; panicle short and narrow, 2-5 cm. long, 

 few-flowered ; glumes and lemmas broad, rather 

 soft ; awn of the lemma about 1 mm. long. 



Alpine Zone; extending south in Rocky Mountains to 

 Arizona; in the Blue Mountains of Oregon; also on 

 Mount Dana, California. July-Aug. Type locality: Mel- 

 ville Island, arctic America. 



Scleropoa rigida (L.) Griseb. Spic. Fl. Rum. 2: 431. 

 1844. Poa ligida L. Amoen. Acad. 4: 265. ,1759. This 

 European species is introduced at a few localities in the 

 United States and has been found at Salem, Oregon 

 (Nelson). It is a low annual with narrow panicles or 

 racemes of spikelets resembling those of Puccinellia, 1- 

 nerved glumes, and obscurely nerved lemmas convex on 

 the back. 



69. BROMUS L. Sp. PI. 76. 1753. 



Spikelets several to manv-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and 

 between the florets ; glumes 'unequal, acute, the first 1-3-nerved, the second usually 3-5- 

 nerved; lemmas convex on the back or keeled, 5-9 nerved, 2-toothed at apex, awnless or 

 u'^uallyawned from between the teeth; palea usually shorter than the lemma. Annual or 

 perennial, low or moderately tall grasses with closed sheaths, flat blades and open or 

 contracted panicles of large spikelets. [Greek, an ancient name for the oat.] 

 Species about 100 in the temperate regions of the world. Type species, Bromus secalinus L. 



1. B. unioloidcs. 



2. B. subvelutinus. 



Spikelets strongly flattened, the lemmas distinctly compressed-keeled; plants mostly perennial. 



Lemmas acuminate, mucronate, the awn, if present, usually not more than 2 mm. long;^blades ^scabrous; 



annual. 

 Lemmas distinctly awned. 



Blades canescent and densely pilose, narrow or involute. 

 Blades not canescent, glabrous or somewhat pilose. .• , ■ r • i j , 



Panicle narrow, the branches short and erect; spikelets subsessile or short-pediceled, fascicled or 

 solitary along the main axis and the few short branches; a somewhat succulent beach plant. 

 ■^ i. B. inaiitiinus. 



Panicle open, the branches spreading or drooping (sometimes reduced in B. marginatus) ; spike- 

 lets not subsessile, usually rather long-pediceled, not fascicled. 

 Branches of the very open panicle, long, slender, drooping, bearing 1 or 2 large spikelets at 

 the end, the naked portion as much as 10 or 15 cm. long in the lowermost ; sheaths smootli; 

 spikelets smooth or scabrous. 4. B. sttchcnsts. 



Branches of panicle not greatly elongate. - d j. i ,j 



Lemmas smooth or scabrous; sheaths smooth. o- o- polyantnus. 



Lemmas pubescent, at least below. . 



Awn less than 7 mm. long. 6. B. margxnatus. 



Awn more than 7 mm. long. 7. B. cannatus. 



