46 POACEAE. 



5. P. scabrella (Thurb.) Benth. Perennial; culms slender, 4-7 

 dm. high, scabrid; leaves of the sterile shoots flat or conduplicate, 

 12-20 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, those of the culm 2-3, 5-7 cm. long; 

 ligule 5-12 mm. long; panicle rather open or usually contracted, 

 12-15 cm. long, its branches in pairs, the longest 5-7 cm. long; 

 spikelets 5-6 mm. long, 3-5-flowered; first empty glume 2.5 mm., 

 the second 3 mm. long; flowering glume 3 mm. long, rough, hairy 

 on the lower part of the nerves, apex denticulate ; palea slightly shorter. 



Occasional in the canyons of our coast mountains. Pasadena, 

 Davidson; Santa Monica Mountains. 



35. FESTUCA L. Fescue-grass. 



Mostly tufted perennial (ours annuals) grasses with 

 flat or convolute leaves and paniculate inflorescence. 

 Spikelets 2-several-flowered. The 2 lower glumes empty, 

 more or less unequal, acute, keeled; flowering glumes 

 membranous, narrow, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, 

 usually acute and often awned at the apex. Palea 

 scarcely shorter than the glume. Stamens 1-3. Styles 

 very short, distinct. Grain glabrous, elongated, often 

 adherent to the glume or palea. 



Spikelets densely 5-13-flowered; flowering glumes 



without scarious margins. 1. F. octoflora. 



Spikelets loosely 1-5-flowered; flowering glumes 

 with narrow scarious margins. 

 Branches of the panicle or at least some of 

 them divergent. 

 Flowers mostly 3-5 in a spikelet, only the 

 principal panicle branches divergent. 

 Glumes both empty and flowering 



glabrous. 2. F. pacifica. 



Glumes both empty and flowering 



hirsute. 3. F. grayi. 



Flowers mostly 1-3 in a spikelet; all the 

 spikelets divergent. 

 Glumes both empty and flowering 



glabrous. 

 Empty glumes glabrous; flowering 

 glumes pubescent. 

 Branches of the panicle erect or appressed. 

 Lower empty glume f-| as long as the 



upper. 

 Lower empty glume not more than | as 

 long as the upper. 

 Flowering glume ciliate. 

 Flowering glume not ciliate. 



1. F. octoflora Walt. Annual; culms usually tufted, 15-30 cm. 

 high; sheaths shorter than the internodes, smooth; culm-leaves 2-5, 



