GRASS FAMILY. 215 
3- Puccinellia airoides (Nutt.) Wats. & Coult. Slender Meadow-grass. 
hes (Fig. 495.) 
Poa atroides Nutt. Gen. 1:68. 1818. 
Panicularia distans atroides Scribn. Mem. Torr. Club, 
5:54. 1894. 
Puccinellia atroides Wats. & Coult. in A. Gray, Man. 
Ed. 6, 668. 1890. 
Culms 1°-4° tall, erect, simple, smooth and gla- 
brous. Sheaths usually longer than the internodes; 
ligule 1’’ long; leaves 2/-6’ long, 114’’ wide or less, 
flat or involute, usually erect, smooth beneath, 
rough above; panicle open, its branches slender, 
spreading or ascending, rarely erect, the lower 
2/-3 14’ long and often reflexed; spikelets scattered; 
1-7-flowered, 114’’-3/’ long; empty scales unequal, 
the first acute, I-nerved, the second obtuse or 
acute, 3-nerved, more than half the length of the 
obtuse flowering scales, which are 1//-1/’’ long. 
In saline soil, Manitoba to the Northwest Territory, 
Washington, Colorado and Nevada. July—Aug. 
4. Puccinellia angustata (R. Br.) Nash. 
Arctic Meadow-grass. (Fig. 496.) 
Poa angustata R. Br. App. Parry’s Voy. 287. 1824. 
Panicularia angustata Scribn. Mem. Torr. Club, 
5354 1894-7 ; 
Puccinellia maritima var. minor S. Wats. in A. 
Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 668. 1890. 
Puccinellia angustata Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 22: 
512. 1895. 
Smooth and glabrous, culms 4/—12/ tall, erect, 
simple. Sheaths usually overlapping; ligule 1// 
long; leaves '%4’-214’ long, 1/’ wide or less; pan- 
icle 1/-2’ in length, contracted, the branches 
short and erect or appressed; spikelets 2-7-flow- 
ered, 3/’-4’’ long; empty scales obtuse or rounded 
at the apex, the first 1-nerved, the second 3- 
nerved; flowering scales 114’/-1 14’ long, usually 
purplish, rounded at the apex. 
Greenland and Hudson Bay to Alaska, south to 
Maine. Also in Europe and Asia. Summer. 
83. FESTUCA L, Syeda, eh, Sra. 
Mostly tufted perennial grasses, with flat or convolute leaves and paniculate inflores- 
cence. Spikelets 2-several-flowered. Two lower scales empty, more or less unequal, acute, 
keeled; flowering scales membranous, narrow, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, usually acute, 
and generally awned at the apex. Palet scarcely shorter than the scale. Stamens 1-3. 
Styles very short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain glabrous, elongated, often adherent to 
the scale or palet. [Latin, stalk or straw. ] 
A genus of about 80 species, widely distributed, particularly numerous in temperate regions. 
Besides the following, some 15 others occur in the western parts of North America. 
Leaves 1'' wide or less. 
Annuals; flowering scales awned. 
First scale more than half as long as the second; awn short. 1. J. ocloflora. 
First scale less than half as long as the second; awn long. 2. &. Myuros. 
Perennials; flowering scales short-awned or bristle-pointed. 
Basal leaves filiform or setaceous, %'’ wide. 
Culms from a rootstock or with stolons. 3. FF. rubra. 
Culms densely tufted, no rootstocks. 4. F. ovina. 
Basal leaves flat, about 1'’ wide, becoming involute in drying. 5. £. scabrella, 
Leaves 2'’ wide or more, flat. 
Flowering scales unawned or short-awned. 
Flowering scales 2'’'-3%4'' long; spikelets 5-10-flowered. 6. FF. elatior. 
Flowering scales 2’’ long or less; spikelets 3-6-flowered. 
Spikelets very broad; branches of the panicle spikelet-bearing from the middle or 
below; flowering scales obtuse. 7. EF. Shortit. 
Spikelets lanceolate; branches elongated; spikelets at ends; scales acute. 8. 7. nulans. 
Flowering scales long-awned. 9. F. gigantea. 
