486 POACE^. 



ule very sliort, ciliate; blades flat or becoming involute, 8-15 cm. 

 long, 4-6 mm. wide. Panicle spreading, pyramidal, 18-25 cm. 

 long, rays with smooth axils, scattered, decompound. Spikelets 

 lead-colored on capillary pedicels mostly shorter tliau themselves, 

 narrowly linear, 5-8 mm. long, 7-11-flowered; empty glumes pur- 

 plish, lanceolate, first 1.5 mm. long, second broader, 2 mm. long; 

 floral glume oval, subacute, 2 mm. long, lateral nerves prominent; 

 palea nearly as long as its glume, scaberulous on the keel. Grain 1 

 mm. long. 



Dr. A^asey says: "Type specimens collected at San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, by C. R. Orcutt, in 1885 (No. 1313), and others at San 

 Bernardino by S. B. Parish. Well distinguished by its large, many- 

 flowered panicle and slender spikelets. It is most nearly related 

 to E. Mexicana Link." 



California, Parish 2484 in 1892. 



19. E. MAJOR Host, Gram. 4: /. 14 (1809). Briza Eragrostis 

 L. Sp. PI. 70 (1753). E. 2^0(Boides var. megastachya A. Gray, 

 Man. Ed. 2:5G3 (1863). Eragrostis Eragrostis MacM. Met. 

 Minn. 75 (1892), not Karst. 



A diffusely spreading annual, 15-50 cm. high. Leaves with 

 glands on the principal nerves ; ligule a fringe of 

 hairs; blades flat, 5-15 cm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, 

 smooth or nearly so. Panicle rather dense, ovoid or 

 oblong, 8-16 cm. long. Spikelets linear or oblong, 

 flattened, on short pedicels, ovate when young, 10-50- 

 flowered, 6-20 mm. long, whitish when old, olive 

 green or tinged lead-color when young ; empty glumes 

 subequal, broadly ovate, acute when spread, 1-nerved, 

 1.5-1.8 mm. long; floral glume broadly oval, abruptly 

 EracjrosUs acute, lateral nerves conspicuous, about 2 mm. long; 

 leU^cribner'') V^^^ linear-spatulate, ciliate on the keels. Grain al- 

 most spherical, often only 0.5 mm. diam. 

 The glands secrete a substance emitting an unpleasant odor 

 offensive to animals. 



Massachusetts, Faxon 4 ; New Jersey, Scrihner for U. S. Dept. 

 Agricul. 582; District of Columbia, McCarthy; Iowa, Hitchcock;: 



