246 POACE^E. 



hairy below, ovate-lanceolate. 3-nei-ved, 1.7-2 mm. long, awn 2-4 

 mm. long; palea nearly as long as its glume. 



Vermont, rvingle ; Pennsylvania, U. S. Dept. Agricul. 313 

 from Scribn. ; Michigan, CooJey, Beal 45; Indiana, Beal4:6; Texas, 

 J\'ealley. 



Dry Woods, New England to Iowa and New Mexico. 



15. M. elata Vasey, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1:283 (1893). 

 A harsh tufted erect perennial, 90-180 cm. high. Culms 



slightly compressed, almost solid, leaf-bearing only below. Lower 

 sheaths compressed; ligule decurrent, firm, acute or 2-toothed, 2- 

 6 mm. long; blades scabrous above, mostly conduplicate or involute, 

 30-90 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. wide. Panicles brownish or of a red- 

 dish lead-color, termiiial, narrow or spreading, 30-50 cm. long; 

 rays numerous, scattered, capillary, 6-9 cm. long, bearing 2-6 spike- 

 lets to each branch of the ray. Spikelets on very slender pedicels 

 that are 4-10 mm. long; empty glumes nearly equal, ovate, 1- 

 nerved, 1-1.5 mm. long, often irregularly lascerate and terminating 

 in a bristle, 0.2-3 mm. long; floral glume linear-lanceolate with a 

 few short hairs at the base, 3-nerved, 2 mm. long, the awn 5-10 

 mm. long; palea oval, acute, as wide and as long as its glume. 

 Mexico, Palmer 523, 770; Pringle 2351. 



16. M. scoparia Vasey, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1: 283 (1893). 

 An erect nearly smooth tufted perennial, 80-100 em. high. 



Culms compressed. Ligule acute, 5-6 mm. long; blades of sterile 

 shoots compressed, rigid, conduplicate, 30-50 cm. long. 3-4 mm. 

 wide, those of the culm 2 or 3, narrower and 15-20 cm. long. 

 Panicle linears or narrower, 30-60 cm. long, reddish brown, rays 

 mostly scattered, numerous, erect and spreading, branches panicu- 

 late, thinly flower-bearing for the upper three-fourths, the longest 

 6 cm. long, bearing 50-70 spikelets. Spikelets on pedicels 1-4 mm. 

 long; empty glumes subequal, 1-nerved, 1.5 mm. long, besides 

 the bristly points; floral glume elliptical when spread, obscurely 

 3-nerved, about 2 mm. long, the awn 1-1.7 cm. long; palea acute,, 

 about the length of its glume; the anthers 1.3 mm. long. 

 Mexico, Pringle 2350. 



17. M. exilis Fourn. Ilemsl. Biol. Cent. Am. Bot. 3 : 540 (1880). 



