:;i A.grostideae 



the spike: Bpike 2—4 cm. long, about 4 nun. wide; spikelets 2-3 

 nun. long: empty glumes silky, obtuse; llowering glumes gla- 

 brous, their margins united to near the middle ; awn about 4 mm. 

 long, slender. 



In low around on the mesas near [nglewpod. In a similar location near 

 San Diego. 



14. SPOROBOLUS R. Br. Drop-seed Grass. 



Perennial or annual grasses with flat or convolute 

 Leaves and open or contracted panicles. Spikelets usu- 

 ally small, L -flowered, sometimes 2 3-flowered. Glumes 

 in the L-flowered spikelets .".. membranous : the 2 outer 

 empty, the tir-t somewhat the shorter ; the third equals 

 Lng or longer than the empty ones enclosing a perfect 

 flower and a 2-nerved palea. Stamens 2-3. Styles very 

 short, disl inct. ( rrain free. 



1. S. airoides Torr. Perennial; culms erect, rather stout and 

 tufted, 4-9 dm. high; sheaths somewhat shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, the throat ciliate; ligule very short; leaves convolute, 

 tapering to a filiform apex, those of the culm 4-0, the upper 

 filiform, 2-3 cm. long ; panicle terminal, ovoid, often partly 

 included at the base, 2-3 dm. long, its branches again branching 

 and hearing scattered spikelets above the middle; spikelets light 

 lead-color or brown; empty glumes obovate, nerveless, first 

 0.5-1 mm. long, second 1.5-2 mm. long; flowering glume con- 

 cave, broadly oval, 1-nerved, 2 mm. long; palea broader than its 

 glume and a little shorter, truncate. 



Occasional in low ground. Wilmington; Westminster: San Bernardino; 

 San I) 



2. S. asperifolius (Nees.) Thurb. Culms branching; 2—4 dm. 

 high, ascending from stout creeping rootstalks, sheaths smooth, 



longer than the numerous short inter nodes, leaves flat, 

 scabrous, 3-8 cm. long, 2 mm. wide: panicle included at the base. 

 open, 9-18 cm. long, its branches Bcabrous, bearing Bingle Bpike- 

 lets at tie' ends of very slender stiff branchlets : spikelets tinged 

 with purple; empty glumes lanceolate, 3-nerved, lirst 0.3-0.5 

 mm. long, second slightly longer; flowering glume oval, obtuse, 

 l-i") mm. long; palea equaling the glume. 



tear Valley, San Bernardino Mountains. 



