112 ERYTHEA. 



Melitensis, C. Solditialis, C. Salmantica, and other South European 

 weeds. But the soil, on which it was found. is uncultivated, and I 

 was informed by Mr. John Boggs, of Princeton, who has resided in 

 that neighborhood for over forty years, that that particular area 

 had never been broken to the plow within his memory, having 

 always been considered worthless ground. Nevertheless it is pos- 

 sible that seeds have been dropped from wagons carrying seed-grain 

 from river boats to the rich wheat lands eight or ten miles to the 

 westward, before the advent of the branch railroad which now crosses 

 the "goose-lands." The very diminutive state of the plant is prob- 

 ably due to the hardness and insolubility of the soil. 



Phalaris paradoxa (L.). This interesting and remarkable " Ca- 

 nary-grass" of the Mediterranean region has now become natu- 

 ralized in California. The first specimen brought to my notice 

 was collected by Mr. A. B. Leckenby, near Petal uma, Sonoma 

 County, in 1896. Last May I found the plant growing in abun- 

 dance near Princeton, Colusa County, in a wet spot beside the 

 stage road to Norman. 



Briza maxima (L.). Also of the Mediterranean region, cultivated 

 in gardens for ornament, and found as an escape in Massachusetts, 

 Michigan, and Colorado, according to Professor Beal, has now been 

 found growing spontaneously near Healdsburg, Sonoma Co., Cab, by 

 Miss Alice King. 



My sincere thanks are due to the Director of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, for having had my specimens of Stapfia and Heleochloa com- 

 pared with material in the Kew Herbarium, thus minimizing the 

 risk of adding to the already overwhelming mass of grass synonyms. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 



1. Stapfia Golusana Davy, two-thirds natural size. 



2. Spikelet; the proterandrous flowers spread out to show their 

 relative positions. In the lower flower on the left the protruding 

 filaments from which the dehisced anthers have already fallen, as 

 well as the barbellate st}des, are shown. 



3. Flower-inclosing glume, inner view ; folded portion laid 

 back. 



4. Palea ; front view, showing the two smaller nerves on the 

 olded edges ; the two larger nerves occur at the folds. 



