56 POACEAE. 



persistent, and subtending the flowers like an involucre; 

 flowering glumes shorter, rounded on the back, obscurely 

 5-nerved, obtUvSe, acute or awned from the apex. Palea 

 a little shorter than the glume, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. 

 Styles short, distinct. Grains adherent to the glumes 

 and palea, hairy at the summit. 



Glumes subulate, nearly or quite nerveless. 



Tall stout reed-like plants; spikes dense. 1. E. condensatus . 



Slender plants with slender spikes. 2. E. triticoides. 



Glumes lanceolate, distinctly nerved. 3. E. glaucus. 



1. E. condensatus Presl. Culms stout, from stout creeping 

 rootstocks, 10-25 dm. high; sheaths smooth; ligule 2-4 mm. long; 

 leaves 3-5 dm. long, 25 mm. wide or less at the base, long acuminate, 

 smooth or nearly so toward the base, becoming scabrous toward 

 the apex, flat, the edges somewhat involute above; spike rather 

 dense and ample or somewhat lobed, 2-5 dm. long, erect; spikelets 

 imbricated in 2's or 3's or more, 4-5-flowered; empty glumes subu- 

 late, scabrid, about 12 mm. long; flowering glumes scabrous below, 

 11 mm. long, 3 mm. wide, 7-nerved; palea equaling the glume, 

 scabrous and ciliate on the keels above. 



Frequent in canyons and in somewhat moist places on all the 

 hills and in the chaparral belt of the mountains. 



2. E. triticoides (Nutt.) Buckley. Culms rather slender, smooth 

 and usually glaucous, from slender rootstocks, 6-10 dm. high; 

 sheaths smooth; ligule a ciliate ring; leaves 15-30 cm. long, 5-8 

 mm. wide, scabrous on the margins and nerves above; spike 9-18 

 cm. long, about 1 cm. wide or less; rachis puberulent and with a 

 narrow ciliate wing; spikelets in 2's or 3's, rather distant below, 

 crowded in the middle, often single above, 4-6-flowered; empty 

 glumes 8-10 mm. long, subulate, scabrous on the nerves above; 

 flowering glumes 6-10 mm. long, 3 mm. wide, 9-nerved, glabrous; 

 palea about equaling its glume, scabrous on the keels. E. orcuttianus 

 Vasey. 



Common in low ground, especially in the coast valleys. 



3. E. glaucus Buckl. Culms erect and tufted, from stoloniferous 

 rootstocks, 6-10 dm. high, smooth; sheaths smooth or minutely 

 scabrid; ligule about 0.5 mm. long, entire; leaves flat, scabrid on 

 both sides, 6-10 mm. wide, the lowest about 2 dm. long; spike linear, 

 erect, 6-15 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide; spikelets usually in 2's, some- 

 times in 3's, 3-4-flowered; empty glumes 8-12 mm. long; awn- 

 pointed, scabrid on the 2-4 prominent nerves; flowering glumes 

 scabrid above, 9-12 mm. long, tapering into a straight awn 7-14 

 mm. long; palea scabrid, 9-10 mm. long, emarginate; rachis scabrid 

 on the margins. 



Frequent in open shady places in the upper portions of the 

 chaparral belt and in the pine belt. San Gabriel and Santa Ana 

 Mountains. June-July. 



3a. E. glaucus jepsoni Davy. Closely resembling the typical 

 form, but the sheaths more or less pubescent. 



