96 GKAMINEAE 



Tribe IV. PHALARIDEAE. 

 10. PHALARIS L. 



Spikelets with 1 perfect flower, laterally tiatteued. Glumes equal, boat- 

 shaped, exceeding the florets. Sterile lemmas 2, small and narrow, appearing 

 like hairy scales attached to the fertile floret. Fertile lemma indurated and 

 shining in fruit, enclosing a faintly 2-nerved palea. Annuals or perennials, with 

 flat blades and dense spike-like panicles. — Species about 10, mostly natives of 

 southern Europe. (An ancient Greek name for a grass.) 



Spikelets in groups of 7, 1 fertile surrounded by fi sterile 1. i'. parailoxa. 



Spikelets single, all alike. 

 Plants perennial. 



Rhizomes absent; paniele dense, ovate or oblong 2. P. calif ornica. 



Rhizomes present ; panicle spreading during anthesis 3. P. arundinacea. 



Plants annual. 



Glumes broadly winged; paniele ovate or short-oblong. 



Sterile lemma solitary; fertile lemma llo lines long 4. P. minor. 



Sterile lemmas in pairs; fertile lemma 2 to 3 lines long. 



Sterile lemma % line long o. P. hrachystachys. 



Sterile lemma i^ as long as fertile 6. P. canarieiisis. 



Glumes wingless or nearly so; panicles oblong or linear, dense. 



Glumes acuminate; fertile lemma turgid, the acuminate apex smooth. . . .7. P. lemmoni. 

 Glumes acute; fertile lemma less turgid, villous to the acute apex. 



Paniele 1 to 2 inches long; sterile lemmas % as long as fertile. . . . S. P. caroliniana. 

 Panicle 2 to 5 inches long; sterile lemma % as long as fertile 9. P. angusta. 



1. P. paradoxa L. Annual; culms cespitose, more or less spreading at base, 



1 to 2 feet high ; panicle dense, oblong, narrowed at base, 1 to 2 inches long, 

 often enclosed at base in the uppermost enlarged sheath ; spikelets finally fall- 

 ing from the axis in groups of 7, the central fertile, nearly sessile, the others 

 sterile, .sleyder-pediceled ; glumes of sterile spikelets narrow, with faint lateral 

 nerves, the keel prominently winged above, the wing extending into a more or 

 less well-marked tooth, the apex of the glume narrowed into an acuminate 

 point or awn. the glumes of the 4 outer sterile spikelets in the lower part of the 

 panicle more or less deformed; glumes of fertile central spikelet lanceolate, 

 3 to 4 lines long including awn, the lateral nerves prominent, the wing on the 

 keel more tooth-like, the apex of the glume narrowed into an awn aliout 1 line 

 long; fertile lemma smooth and sliining, Vj. lines long, the sterile lemmas 

 obsolete. 



Occasional in grain fields; a native of the Old World, introduced on the Pacific 

 Coast: Richmond, Congdon. 



Var. praemorsa Coss. & Dur. Sterile spikelets short-pediceled. the 4 outer 

 much rednrcd, the apex deformed or variousl.v incurved; fertile spikelet some- 

 what indurated, several-nerved at base, acuminate, the wing fin-like in appear- 

 ance. — Introduced from Etirope. Apparently the commoner form in Califor- 

 nia : Princeton, Berkeley Hills, Davy; San Diego, Brandegee. 



Kef s.— Ph.\l.«is P-lRADOX."^ L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 2 : 16(5.5. 1763 ; Davy in Jepsou. Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 35. 1901, the description applies to the variety. Var. praemorsa Coss. & Dur. Expl. Alg. 

 2: 24. 1854. P. pnirmnrsa Lam. Fl. Fram;. 3: 566. 1778. 



2. P. californica II. & A. Perennial ; culms erect or somewhat geniculate at 

 base; blades flat, rather lax. 3 to 6 lines wide; panicle ovoid or ol)long, 1 to 



2 inches long, % to 1 inch thick, often purplish tinged ; glumes about 3 to 3% 

 lines long, narrow, graduall.v narrowed from below the middle to an acute 

 apex, smootli or slightly' scabrous on the keel, the lateral nerves somewhat 



