18 



of Distichlis an* distichous, folded, long-acumhmte, very rigid, 

 pungent, divaricate, rarely over 2 Dim. wide; those of Kingii are 

 not distichous, shortly-acute, flat and often 1 cm. wide, asmding. 

 The ligule of Distichlis is a ring of hairs; of Kingii a flat and hy- 

 aline band. The rays of Distichlis come out singly and branch ra- 

 eemosely and without any special callus at the nodes, are flat and 

 very scabrous, the spikelets are much flatter, the glumes and lem- 

 ma similar to eachother, coriaceous, rounded, not sulcate, the 

 uerves are rather many and about equal, vanishing below and at 

 very tip and scarcely at all raised, the shape about ovate and very 



different from Kingii. The spikelets are generally many-flowered. 



On May 19 pp. 1-16 of these Contributions had been printed 

 and on this date 1 received the May Bulletin containing Rydberg's 

 Hesperochloa (Piper) which therefore antedates Wasatchia by a 

 few days, though my MS. and critical work preceded his publica- 

 tion many months. Rydberg in this follows his usual course of 

 copying the work of others without critical study of his own, a 

 subgenus by anyone is off hand a good enough genus for him, and 

 so forthwith he eieets the new genus and in this exceptional case 

 it will Htand. The sum total to the previously published facts on 

 it are that it is dicucious, the stigma is extra plumose (a character 

 common to Distichlis and many Poas), and that the stems are 

 "occasionally stoloniferoua" ! I should say so ! 



i 



AGROPYRON. 



This genus, in the light of today, was bunglingly treated by 

 Scribuerend Smith in their revision, Bull. 4 Div. Ag. They failed 

 in synonymy, their keys were poor, and their conception of specific 

 limitation bad from lack of field work. Out of the four new spe- 

 cies proposed not one is valid, while one variety may be a good spe- 

 cies, A. caninum var. andinum which is based on my No. 720 

 from Colorado. This is either a sport, hybrid between violaceum 

 and caninum, or a valid species. My material appears abnormal, 



like a t-port due to some diseased condition. 



Agropyron caninum var. Richardsoni (Trim) n, n. 



Triticum Richardsoni Trim Linnaea 12 467, 



A. sp teat urn S. & S. is A/SmitlirR>dberg. To this must be 



reduced the following: 



Agropyron Smithii^rar. Palmeri~(S. &'S.) n. n. 



A. epieatmi) var. Palmeri S. & S. Rev. Agropyron 33. 



Agropyron Smithii var. molle (S. & S.) n. n. 

 A. bpicttitiui var molle S. & 8. Rev. Agropyron 33. 



