GRASS FAMILY 103 



Panicles narrow, the branches erect. 

 Sheaths hairy at the throat. 



Glumes 7 to 8 lines long 10. S. stillmanii. 



Glumes 5 lines long or less. 



Glumes thin and papery, obscurely nerved; panicle slender. . .11. S. calif ornica. 

 Glumes firm, the first plainly 5 to 7-nerved; panicle rather stout. . .12. S. vaseyi. 

 Sheaths not hairy at the throat. 



Glumes 6 lines long, broad 13. iS. lemmoni. 



Glumes 3 to 4 lines long. 



Leaves mostly basal; blades capillary-involute 14. S. lettermani. 



Leaves scattered; blades flat or involute; culms stouter 15. S. minor. 



1. S. comata Trill. & Rupr. Culms 2 to 4 feet high, smooth; sheaths smooth ; 

 ligule 2 to 3 lines long; blades becoming involute, elongated; panicle loose, 

 open, 6 to 10 inches long ; branches slender, ascending, or, in anthesis, spread- 

 ing, the lower 3 to 4 inches long, bearing usually 2 spikelets toward the extremi- 

 ties; glumes nearly an inch long, gradually narrowed into an awn, smooth, 

 5-nerved, thin, papery; lemma 5 to 6 lines long, rather sparsely appressed- 

 villous; callus li/^ lines long; awn very long, the first section % to II/2 inches 

 long, closely twisted, appressed-villous but becoming nearly smooth, the second 

 like the first but shorter, the third section, as long or longer than the other two, 

 more or less flexuous but not twisted, scabrous, very slender. 



From Lake Tahoe {Hitchcock 3125) to Argus Mts. {rurpus 5461) ; British 

 Columbia to ]\Iexico, east to Great Plains. 



Refs.— Stipa comata Trin. & Rupr. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 5': 75. 1842; 

 Thurb. in Wats. Bot. Oal. 2: 285. 1880. 



2. S. speciosa Trin. & Rupr. Culms numerous, cespitose, 1 to 2 feet high; 

 sheaths smooth, or lower pubescent or even felty at the very base, the throat 

 densely short-villous ; ligule short; blades elongated, involute-filiform, mostly 

 basal, more or less deciduous from the outer and older persistent sheaths; 

 panicle narrow, dense, 4 to 6 inches long, not much exceeding the leaves, white 

 or tawny, feathery from the plumose awns; glumes smooth, 7 to 8 lines long, 

 3-nerved, long-acuminate, papery; lemma 31-2 to 4^/2 lines long, narrow, 

 densely short-pubescent, the callus sharp and smooth below; awn with one 

 sharp bend, the first section ^/^ to % inch long, densely long-pilose on the lower 

 V2 or %, the hairs 3 to 4 lines long, the remaining portion of the awn scabrous, 

 the second section about 1 inch long. 



Central California to Colorado, south into Mexico ; also Chile, the type locality. 

 Especially characteristic of the Colorado and Mohave deserts and the deserts 

 north to :\roiio Lake {Bolaiidcr 6117) ; also occurs at Adobe Valley, Stanislaus 

 Co., Elmer 4349, and San Luis Obispo, Lemmon 5470. 



Refs. — Stipa speciosa Trin. & Rupr. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 5': 45. 1842; 

 Thurb. in Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 284. 1880; Abrams, Fl. Los Ang. 31. 1904. S. chrysophylla 

 Dcsv. in Gay. Fl. Chil. 6: 278. pi. 76. f. 2. 1853; Thurb. in Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 285. 1880. 



3. S. thurberiana Piper. Culms 6 inches to ly^ feet high ; sheaths smooth 

 or somewhat scabrous, mostly basal; ligide long, about iv. to 2 lines long, 

 acute; blades involute, scalirous: panicle 2 to 4 inches long, often subtended 

 by an enlarged sheath ; glumes about 6 lines long, acuminate, 3-nerved; lemma 

 31/2 lines long, appressed-pilose, the callus acute; awn about II/2 inches long, 

 indistinctly twice-geniculate, short-pilose to the second bend. 



In the mountains, central California to "Washington. 



Locs.— Yrcka, Butler 1271; Modoc Nat. For., i/af/o/i / Sierra Nevada. Lemmo7i; S Cal 

 G. R. Tascy in 1880. 



