12 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



er Austria, Moravia, the Tryrol, France, Norway, and tlie 

 Amur region of Siberia. It is so inconspicuous, however, 

 that it may easily have escaped notice in intervening regions. 

 Since it is confined to the muddy shores of rivers, ponds and 

 lakes, it would not be very apt to become associated with culti- 

 vated plants or transported with them ; i)ut the small seeds 

 might possibly become attached to the feet of water-birds, and 

 in this way be carried for considerable distances. Most mod- 

 ern writers on grasses seem to incline tf) the view that it is 

 introduced with us ; but personally I see no valid reason why 

 it should not be regarded as a cosmopolite, like the Limosclla 

 with which it is so closely associated along the Columbia. 

 Hackel, who treats the grasses in Engler & Prantl's Natiirliche 

 Pflanzeiifamilien, evidently regarded it as indigenous in the 

 United States, for after enumerating the other regions in 

 which it occurs, he adds, "Oregon," and remarks: "Distribu- 

 tion noteworthy." An excellent figure of the grass, although 

 showing it somewhat more upright than it occurs here, is 

 found in the Nat. Pflanzenfam. II. 2, 49. The specimens 

 figured above was photographed by my friend Mr. Herman 

 Clark from a dried plant, collected on Hayden Island on the 

 date mentioned above, and measures 7 cm. in its widest 

 diameter. This specimen (my no. 2944) has been deposited 

 in the herbarium of Willamette University at Salem, Orgeon, 

 and duplicates have been exchanged with several of the larger 

 herbaria. 



