1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 45 



7. Melica frutescens. 



Culms 2|-3i feet high, simple or branched near the base, 

 leafy ; leaves narrow, involute near the tip, scabrous, as are also 

 the sheaths. Panicle 6-12 inches long, strict, densely flowered 

 and spicate above, interrupted below, the appressed branches 

 1-3 inches long, densely flowered, or the longer ones naked 

 below. Spikelets about 6 lin. long, with usually 5 perfect florets ; 

 first glume about 5 lin. long ; the second a line longer, nearly 

 equaling the spikelet ; thh'd glume about 4 lin. long, obtuse, the 

 papery-membraneous tip occupying fully a third of its length. 

 Palea usually about one-half the length of its glume. 



Hab. — California: Southern California, Parry and Lemmon, No. 401, 

 1876 ; Mountains San Diego Co., C. G. Pringle, April 20, 1882 ; Lower 

 California, near the United States border, C. R. Orcutt, No. 513, May, 

 1883 ; Near the Tia Juana, M. E. Jones, No. 3748, April 6, 1882. 



8. Melica mutica.Walt., Flor. Carol., 78 (1788). M. glabra, Pursh. ; Mx. (in part.), 



.1/. niutit a, var. glabra, Gray in Man., 626. M. gpeciosa, Muhl., Ind. Fl. Lane. 

 (1791), 161, and Gram., i, 87. M. racemosa, Muhl. Gram., 88. M. Muehlen- 

 bergiana, Schult, Mant., 2, 294 (after Kunth). 



Distribution. — Pennsylvania, southward and westward to Texas, (781, 

 E. Hall). 



Distinguished from M. diffusa, with which it has been united 

 by some authors, by its more slender habit, less branched and 

 fewer flowered panicle, which is often reduced to a simple 

 raceme. The spikelets also rarely have more than two perfect 

 florets, the outer glumes are more nearly equal in length, and 

 often quite as long as the spikelet, while the flowering glumes 

 are broader and more obtuse. 



9. Melica spectabile. M. bulbosa, S.Wats., Bot. King. Exp., 383 ; Porter & Coulter, 



Fl. Colorado, 149. 



Hab. — Montana: Crow Creek Mts., etc., alt. 6000 ft., Scribner, No. 

 385, 1883 ; Bozeman Pass, Wm. M. Canby, No. 368, 1883. Colorado : Twin 

 Lakes, Upper Arkansas, and Plains near Ogden, T. C. Porter, 1872. 

 Yellowstone Park, C. C. Parry, No. 295, 1873. Utah : Cottonwood Canon, 

 alt. 10,000 ft., S. Watson, No. 1303, July, 1869. Idaho : Beaver Canon, S. 

 Watson, No. 455, July, 1880. 



This grass has been referred to Geyer's M. bulbosa by authors, 

 but aside from its affecting higher elevations, it is readily distin- 

 guished from that species by its usually taller and more slender 

 culms, by its more open and nodding panicle, by the more 



