AGROSTIDE.E. 



281 



than the internodes; ligule acute, 4 mm. long; blades 8-15 cm. 

 long, 6 mm. wide. Spike exserted wlien mature , 5-8 cm. long, 

 6-8 mm. wide, dense. Spikelets oval, about 2 mm. long; empty 

 glumes little united below, the keels and lateral glumes ciliate- 

 pubescent, obtuse and truncate ; floral glume nearly as long as the 

 empty ones, ovate, oblong, obtuse, smooth, edges united to the 

 middle, awn starting from the middle, little exceeding the glume. 



California, Lemmon in 1874, Eattan in 1884. 



58. (124). COLEANTHUS Seid. K. & S. Syst. 2:276 (1817). 

 Sclmidtia Tratt. Fl. Austr. 1: 12, t. 451 (1811). Wilihalda^iQYnh. 

 inFl. 2:6 (1819). 



Spikelets very small, with one perfect flower, pedicellate in um- 

 bellate clusters. Empty glumes 0; floral glume hyaline, persistent, 

 ovate, keeled, short-awned; palea shorter, broader, persistent, 

 2-keeled, divided or 2-4-toothed. Stamens 2. Styles distinct. 

 Grain narrowly oblong, slightly compressed, deciduous. Panicle 

 partly exserted from the upper inflated sheaths. Sclimidtia Tratt. 

 is now applied to a very different genus of grasses. There is only 

 one species known. 



1. C. subtilis Seid. 1. c. 



Culms slender, forming loose tufts in the 

 mud, geniculate, often branching below, only 

 2-7 cm. high. Sheaths loose with margins 

 scabrous, the upper much inflated; ligule elon- 

 gated; blades smooth, curved, conduplicate or 

 involute, 1-1.5 cm. long. Panicle usually simple, 

 1-3 cm. long, bearing 3-5 umbels; pedicels 

 scab]-ous, 1-2 mm. long. Floral glume narrow, 

 1-nerved, longer than the ripened grain, which 

 is about 1 mm. long. 



It is very nearly allied to PM/ppsia and 

 Sporoiolus ; but the lower glumes are wanting. 



Bohemia and Norway ; also in Oregon Fig. 50. — Coleanthus 

 (Sauvie's Island), where it was discovered by (mchardsoiff ^^^^*' 

 Thomas Howell. It may have escaped notice 

 in other places, owing to its small size. 



