278 • POACE^. 



5-nerved, awn from near the base about three times as long as the 

 glume. 



Oregon, Howell; Vancouver Island, Macoun; Eocky Mountains, 

 Yasey. 



Var. Merrimani nov. var. Sheaths slightly inflated, spikes ex- 

 serted, oblong or cylindrical, 1-2 cm. long, 4-5 mm. wide; spikes 

 2-2.3 mm. long; empty glumes a very little shorter than the floral 

 glume, awn from the middle of the glume barely extending to its 

 tip or a little higher. 



Pribylofl: Islands, Bering Sea, Dr. C. H. Merri)nan in 1891. 



3. A. AGRESTis L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2:89 (1762). Slendee Fox- 

 tail. 



An annual, 30-60 cm. high. Sheaths long, scarcely inflated; 

 blades flat. Spike 5-8 cm. long, slender, curved, acute, often pur- 

 plish. Empty glumes 7 mm. long, laucsolate, acute, incurved, 

 connate to the middle, not ciliate, nerves green or })urplish, wing- 

 keeled above the middle; floral glume exserted, glaljrous, awn pro- 

 truding half its length. 



A troublesome weed in Euroj^e, nortliern Africa, Siberia; intro- 

 duced into North America. 



New Jersey, Scribner 3367a, for U. S. Dept. Agricul. 222; 

 Colorado, Cassidy. 



4. A. saccatus Vasey, Coult. Bot. Gaz. 6:290 (1881). 



Culms 12-25 cm. high, erect, simple. Sheaths much inflated, 

 generally including the base of the spike; blades of the culm about 

 3 ill number, short. Spike oblong, 2-5 cm. long, rather loosely 

 flowered. Spikelets 4 mm. long, clothed with silky hairs; empty 

 glumes shorter than the floret, 3-5 mm. long, obtuse, slightly united 

 at the base; floral glume oblong, obtuse, glabrous, the margins 

 united half their length or more; awn one-fourth the distance from 

 the base and protruding two or three times the length of the glumes. 

 This has much the general appearance of A. iitriculatus Sch. 



Oregon, JloireU j C^alifornia, Bolander 35; Japan, R. Oldham. 



5. A. PRATENSis L. Sp. PI. 60 (1753). Meadow Foxtail. 



A soft erect perennial, 30-00 cm. high. Upper sheath inflated, 

 longer than its blade; ligule oblong truncate; blades flat. Spikes 



