268 



POACE.E. 



l-nerved; floral glume 2-lobed, 3-4 mm. long, the awn flexu- 

 ose, 3-0 mm. long; palea linear, obtuse^ 

 almost as long as its glume. Anthers lin- 

 ear, 1.4 mm. long. 



Thin soil of dry porphyry on mountains. 



Mexico (Chihuahua), Prinyle 819. 



2. B. speciosa (Vasey). MuhlenhergicL 

 speciosa Yasey, Bull. Torr. Club, 13 : 231 

 (1886). 



A robust erect perennial, 90-120 cm. 

 high. Culms, sheaths, and lower side of 

 blades shortly tomentose. Sheaths com- 

 pressed-keeled, longer than the internodes ;. 

 ligule very short, ciliate; blades scabrous 

 above, involute, 60 cm. long more or less, 

 3-4 mm. wide. Panicle 50-60 cm, long, 

 linear; rays numerous, mostly single, 

 branching freely, 8-10 cm. long, flower-bear- 



Fio. 45. — Bealia Mext- jj-^™ alonff the upper three-fourths. Spikelets 

 cana. a, empty glumes; o o j. i j. 



b, floret. (Scri'bner.) on pedicels 1-3 mm. long; empty glumes 



subequal, linear-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, flexuose, nerveless, 



about 2 mm. long; floral glume pubescent, oval, 2-toothed. 1.7 mm. 



long, awn 1-1.5 mm, long; palea linear, obscurely nerved, nearly as 



long as its glume. In texture the glumes and palea are much alike. 



Anthers linear, 1 mm. long. 



Mexico (Chihuahua), Palme)' 301 m 1885. 



52. (114). Brachyelytrtjm Beauv. Agrost. 39, f. 9./. 2 (1812). 



Spikelets 1-flowered. narrow, with a slender rudiment of a 

 second flower along a groove on the back of the palea in a simple 

 racemose jianicle, rachilla articulate above tlie lower glumes. Empty 

 glumes unequal, minute, persistent; floral glume chartaceous, in- 

 volute, rigid, acuminate, 5-7-nerved, extending into a long straight 

 awn; palea shorter, delicately 2-nerved, with a groove along the 

 back. Stamens 2. Styles short, distinct. Grain linear, oblong, 

 inclosed, but not adherent. Rachilla ciliolate. 



There is one sjiecies and that peculiar to North America; nearly 



