47 



long, hirsute, tipped with a sliort, straight, scabrous awn 2.5 to 3 cm. long. 

 Palea a little shorter than its glume, obtuse or minutely bidentate, scabrous 

 between the keels. 



This species has heretofore been referred to E. canadensis L., E. virginicus'L., E. 

 striatus WiWd., and E. Mrsutiglumis Scribn. From the first it is distinguished by 

 the thickened, hirsute, empty glumes; from E. mrginicus L. by its hirsute spike- 

 lets and longer awns; from E. striafus Willd. by more robust culms and spikes 

 and by the thickened 5-nerved empty glumes, while it may be separated from 

 E. hirsiUiglumis Scribn. , 

 its nearest ally, by its 

 more robust spikes and 

 longer glumes and awns. 



Type from Biltmore Herba- 

 rium, No. 4116, collected 

 on V)anks of streams at 

 Biltmore, North Carolina, 

 July 7, 1897. 



General distribution. --Moist 

 woods and thickets from 

 North Carolina and Flori- 

 da west to Arkansas and 

 Missouri. 



Specimens examined. — Flori- 

 da: no locality, A. H. 

 Curtiss, 1886. Alabama: 

 Valley Head, 38 A. Ruth, 

 July, 1898. Georgia: Au- 

 gusta, 222 T. H. Kearney, 

 jr., July, 1895; Luluh 

 Falls, Lookout Mountain, 

 16 A. Ruth, 1898. Ark-an- 

 nas: White River, near 

 Batesville, F. \. Coville, 

 August 2, 1887. ifissouri: 

 St. Louis, 195 H. Eggert, 

 July, 1879. Illinois: no 

 locality, J. Wolf, 1882. 



EliYMUS BRACHYSTA- 

 CHYSsp.nov. (Fig. 21.) 

 ( Elymus canadensis glabri- 

 florns Vasey, Contr. V. S. 

 Nat. Herb. 2: 550 (1894) 

 ( in part ) . ) 



A low but rather stout peren- 

 nial with bristly nodding 



spikes. Culms 3 to 9 dm. high, erect or somewhat geniculate at base, smooth, 

 terete; nodes smooth; sheaths mostly shorter than the internodes, smooth, striate; 

 ligule a short, entire ring, less than 1 mm. long; leaf-blades 1 to 2 dm. long, 6 to 

 11 mm. wide, acuminate, ascending, semi-involute, smooth or somewhat scabrous 

 below, finely scabrous above and on the margins. Spike rather dense, 8 to 15 cm. 

 long, long-exserted on a stout peduncle; rachis thickened, striate, 4-angled or 

 more compressed and 2-angled, entirely smooth or scabrous on the angles. 

 Spikelets glabrous, 2 at each joint, 3 to 5 flowered; empty glumes flat, scabrous, 

 8 to 10 mm. long or with the straight scabrous awn 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long, 1 mm. 



Fig. •2\.—Elymutt bmchysfachi/K Scribn. & Ball: a, a single spike- 

 lut; b, the same with the outer glumes removed. 



