38 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



to a raceme; spikelets (excluding awns) 2 to 3 cm long, mostly 5- to 10- 

 flowered, the florets in anthesis little or not at all overlapping, exposing 

 the rather long rachilla joints; glumes acuminate, 10 to 15 mm long; 

 lemmas more or less appressed-pubescent, rarely glabrous, about 

 2 mm wide as folded, 10 to 20 mm long; awn 7 to 15 mm long; palea 

 gradually acuminate, nearly as long as the lemma, the teeth short- 

 awned. 91 — Open ground, open woods, and waste places, at low 

 and middle altitudes, common on the Pacific coast, extending into 



Figure 11. — Bromus carinatus, X 1- (Hitchcock 2704, Calif.) 



British Columbia, Idaho, through Montana to New Mexico and 

 northern Mexico; introduced in Indiana (fig. 12). 



Closely allied to Bromus carinatus are the following forms which 

 may be considered members of a variable and polymorphous species. 

 These forms are by some given the rank of species, but they are con- 

 nected by numerous intergrades which can be distinguished only 

 arbitrarily. 



Bromus marginatus Nees. Mostly perennial ; spikelets on the aver- 

 age broader than in B. carinatus, the awn usually less than 7 mm long; 

 panicles large and open with spreading or 

 drooping but not deflexed branches, or reduced 

 to racemes with a few appressed spikelets; 

 glumes often pubescent; lemmas usually pu- 

 bescent. % — Open woods, open ground, 

 and waste places, common on the Pacific coast, 

 extending north to British Columbia, east to 

 South Dakota, Colorado, and western Texas, 

 and south into northern Mexico; introduced 

 in Alaska, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, and sparingly at other points. 



Bromus maritimus (Piper) Hitchc. Perennial; culms robust, 

 mostly less than 60 cm tall, more or less geniculate at base with 

 numerous leafy basal shoots ; sheaths smooth or minutely scaberulous; 

 blades 12 to 30 cm long, mostly 6 to 8 mm wide, scabrous; panicle 

 mostly 10 to 20 cm long, strict, the branches short, erect; spikelets 

 3 to 4 cm long. 91 (B. marginatus maritimus Piper.) — Near the 

 coast from Sonoma County to Monterey County, Calif. 



Bromus polyanthus Scribn. Stout perennial as much as 100 cm 

 tall, with smooth sheaths, scabrous blades, erect or somewhat spread- 



Figure 12.— Distribution of 

 Bromus carinatus. 



