164 GRAMINEAE 



Florets mostly 1 to 3 in each spikelet ; all the spikelets divergent. 



Lemmas glabrous 6. F. reflexa. 



Lemmas pubescent. 



Glumes glabrous 7. F. microntaehys. 



Glumes pubescent 8. F. eastwoodaf. 



Branches of the narrow panicle erect or appressed. 



Lower glume % to % as long as the upper 11. F. bromoides. 



Lower glume not more than % as long as upper. ^ 



Lemma ciliate 9. F. megahira. 



Lemma not ciliate 10. F. myuron. 



Plants perennial. 



Rhizomes present; blades fiat; lemma acuminate, unawned 25. F. con finis. 



Rhizomes wanting (base of culm decumbent in F. rubra). 

 Blades flat, rather soft and lax. 



Lemmas awnless, indurated, not keeled 21. F. elatior. 



Lemmas awned, membranaceous, more or less keeled. 



Floret longstipitate 22. F. subnliflora. 



Floret sessile. 



Awn terminal 24. F. subulata. 



Awn from a cleft apex 23. F. elmeri. 



Blades usually folded or involute, narrow or capillary. 

 Collar and auricles tomentose or bristly. 



Plant stout, usually over 3 feet tall; lower sheaths glabrous. ... 19. F. calif ornica. 



Plant more slender, about \Vn feet tall; sheaths puberulent 20. F. parishii. 



Collar and auricles not conspicuously tomentose or bri.stly. 



Lemmas acute, unawned or only awn-pointed 18. F. viridula. 



Lemmas awned. 



Tufts loose, the bases of the culms decumbent; blades usually smooth to the touch. . 



12. F. rubra. 

 Tufts compact; culms erect. 



Panicle open, the branches long and spreading; awn longer than body of lemma. . 



14. F. ocridentalis. 

 Panicle narrow, tlie branches ascending. 



Blades scabrous, usually elongated 1.5. F. idahoensis. 



Blades smooth. 



Plants about 4 feet tall 13. F. howellii. 



Plants low, usually less than 6 inches high. 



Blades hard, involute, shining, not angled 17. F. supina. 



Blades soft, angled in drying, the tissue soft between the angles 



16. F. brachyphylla. 



Subgenus ViiLPiA Hack. Annuals; stamens usually only 1, sometimes 3; florets 

 usuall.v remaining unopened, consequently self-pollinated ; .joints of the ra- 

 cliilla usually clavate. 



1. F. octoflora Walt. Culms slender, erect, usually (i to 12 inches high ; 

 blades narrow, involute; panicle narrow, the branches short, appressed; spike- 

 lets 3 to 4 lines long, densely 5 to 13-flowered ; glumes subulate-lanceolate, the 

 first 1-nerved, \\L lines long, the upper 3-nerved. 2 lines long; lemmas firm, 

 convex, lanceolate, glabrous or scabrous, the margins not scarious, 2 to 21/2 

 lines long, attenuate into a scabrous awn 1 to 2 lines long. 



Open ground, in the southwestern portion of the state, also in Santa Clara 

 Co. {Heller 7373) ; throughout the U. S. 



Var. hirtella Piper. Differs in l>eing usually in low spreading tufts; foliage 

 usually pul>cscciit ; lemmas liirtcllous or pubescent. — .Moi'e frequent than 

 the species, growing in moiv arid ground; San Luis OMsjio Co. to the Mo- 

 have Desert and southward: also on .Mt. Tamalpuis i('hiis< MuS) and in north- 

 ern Inyo Co, (Heller 8196) ; southeast to Arizona and northern Mexico. 



