114 GRAMINEAE 



Annuals or perennials with sniiill spikelets. — Speeies about SO. mostly Ameri- 

 can, from the warmer regions. (Greek spora, seed, and bolos. throwing.) 



Plants annual ; spikelets \-2 line long 1. S. confusua. 



Plants perennial; spikelets 1 line long or more. 



Plants densely cespitose, erect; without rhizomes '2. S.' airoides. 



Plants not cespitose, decumbent-spreading; rhizomes present 3. jS. asperifoliux. 



1. S. confusus Vasey. Annual; culms slender, 6 to 8 inches high, often de- 

 pauperate; blades mostly less than an inch long; panicles oblong, diffuse, often 

 more than !/•> the length of the entire plant, the branches capillary, spreading, 

 1 to 1% inches long; spikelets V2 to ^ line long, the glumes about i^ as long, 

 equal, obtuse, sparsely pilose. 



Open sandy or gravelly, usually moist ground, mostly near streams or lakes in 

 the Sierra Nevada. Washington and Montana to Texas, Mexico and Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Donner Lake, Hclhr: ^lonn Lake. Bolnndcr 6096; Yosemite Talley, 

 Ilifchcock 3218. 



Refs. — Sporobolus confusus Vasey. Bull. Torr. Club 1.') : 293. 1S8S. Filfa confusa Fourii. 

 Mex. PI. 2: 101. 1880. Sporobolus ramulosus [Kunth, misapplied by] Thurb. in Wats. Bot. 

 Gal. 2: 269. 1880. 



2. S. airoides Torr. Perennial; culms densely cespitose. forming large tus- 

 socks, smooth, stout, spreading at base, 1 to H feet high ; .sheaths smooth, 

 sparsely pilose at the throat ; blades involute, elongated, the upper short ; 

 panicles diffuse, finally about % the length of the entire plant; spikelets % to 

 1 line long, obtuse; glumes unequal, the first oval, i-j as long as spikelet, the 

 second as long as spikelet. 



Bottomlands and valleys, often in saline or alkaline soil; Amador Co. {Brauii- 

 ton 1229") to Tia Juaiui (Abrams 3-lii7). east in the ^lohave (Newberry, HoU 

 6120) and Colorado (//«// 5885) deserts. Oregon to South Dakota, south into 

 Mexico. 



Refs. — Sporobolus airoides Torr. U. S. Rep. Expl. Miss. Paeif. 7: 21. 18.56; Thurb. in 

 Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 269. 18S0; Abrams, Fl. Los Aug. 34. 1904. Agrostis airoides Torr. Ann. 

 Lye. N. Y. 1: 151. 1824. 



3. S. asperifolius Nees & Eleven. Perennial from creeping rhizomes; culms 

 1 to 2 feet long, ascending from a creeping or decumbent base ; sheaths smooth, 

 keeled; blades flat, 1 to 2 inches long, about 1 line wide, scabrous; panicles 

 diffuse, tardily exserted from the uppermost sheath, oval, 4 to 6 inches long; 

 spikelet % line long, the ghunes slightly unequal, a little shorter than the 

 spikelet. 



Meadows and wet places, especialh' in alkaline soil, from Lassen Co. {Davy) 

 to Death Valley {Coville d- Funston 246), Riverside {Reed 1950) and northern 

 Ventura Co. (Elmer 3973 •. British Columliia to North Dakota, south to Texas 

 and ^lexico. 



Refs. — Spoeobolus aspkrifolius Nees & Meyen. Acta .\cad. Leop. Cur. 19: 141. 1843; 

 Thurb. in Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 269. 1880; Abrams, Fl. Los Ang. 34. 1904. Vilfa axpcrifoUus 

 Nees & Meyen; Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. S.-i. Xat. 4': 9."i. 1840. 



21. EPICAMPES Presl. 

 Spikelets 1-tlowered, in elongated, narrow or spike-like panicles. Glumes 2, 

 membranaceous. Lemma 3-nei-ve(l. of same texture as glumes and as long or 

 longer, mucronate or short-awned. Palea alunit as long as lennna. Tall per- 

 ennial bunch-grasses with pale many-flowered panicles and long narrow usu- 

 ally involute blades. — Species about 12. soutborii California to the Andes. 

 (Greek epicampes. curved.) 



