FESTUCE^E. 499 



m. Floral glume 9-12 mm. long 18 



m. Floral glume 8-10 mm. long (n) 



n. Awn less than 2 mm. long 19 



n. Awn 4-6 mm. long 20 



F. Culms not bulbiferous, panicle contracted (o) 



o. Floral glume 8-10 mm. long, ligule 1 mm. long. . , 21 

 o. Floral glume 9-11 mm. long, ligule 4 mm. long. , . 22 



1. M. imperfecta Triu. Bull. 8c. Acad. St. Petersb. 1 : G8 

 (1836). J/, colpodwides Nees, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1:283 (1838). M. 

 panicoides Niitt. Journ. Acad. Phila. Sci. 1 : 188 (1847). 



Culms slender, 30-100 cm. high. Sheaths longer than the 

 internodes; ligule white, fringed, 3-4 mm. long; blades 6-7, flat 

 or becoming involute, from smooth to scabrous and pilose-pubes- 

 cent, 15-20 cm. long, about 2 mm. wide. Panicle linear to lance- 

 olate, 20-30 cm. long; rays in remote fascicles, very unequal, the 

 shorter densely flowei*ed to the base, the longer 5-7 cm. long. 

 Spikelets scabrid, 1-flowered, with an imperfect floret, or rarely 

 2-flowered; empty glumes nearly ovate, first 3-nerved, about 3 mm. 

 long, second but little longer, 5-nerved, the lateral nerves obscure ; 

 floral glume about 4 mm. long, ovate, obtuse when spread, 

 7-nerved, often purplish; palea nearly as long as its glume; rudi- 

 ment short-pedicelled. 



Shady jilaces, very variable in size and appearance. 



California, Parish hrothers 856, U. S. Dept. Agricul. 640 from 

 Jones 3092; Lower California, Pcdmer 660, 662, Pringle in 1882. 



Oregon to Lower California. 



Var. flexuosa Boland. Proc. Calif. Acad. 4:101 (1873). 



*' Branches of the few-flowered simple panicle generally in j^airs, 

 widely spreading, often reflexed; florets larger, acute, paler and 

 more coriacajous." Thurber in Bot. Calif. 



Var. minor Scribn. Proc. Acad. Phila. 42 (1885). 



'•'Low and densely tufted, short and chiefly radical leaves, com- 

 pressed or angular culms, slender few-flowered panicles, the short 

 branches divergent or even reflexed; the sjiikelets generally smaller 

 than in the species, the outer glumes usually shorter and more 

 obtuse." Scribner, I.e. 



