506 POACE^. 



Mexico (Chihuahua), Pringle 430 ; also said to grow in Chili. 



14, M. macrantha (Vasey) Beal, Bull. Torr. Club, 17:153 

 (1890). Poa macrantha Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club, 15:11 (1888). 



A smooth stout grass, 30-40 cm. high, ascending from creeping 

 rootstocks. Sheaths compressed, loose; ligule 1-2 mm. long; 

 blades of the culm, excepting 2 or 3 of tlie upper ones, bearing in 

 their axils non-flowering leafy branches; blades of the branches 

 conduplicate, curved and flexuose, often reaching to the panicle, the 

 extreme apex obtuse or abruptly pointed, in cross-section oval or 

 circular, 5-10 mm. diam., a set of small bulliform cells on each side 

 near the middle; blades of tlie culm a little wider, the upper one 

 1-5 cm. long. Panicle erect, dense, sometimes interrupted below, 

 4-10 cm. long, rays in twos and threes, stout, erect, the longest 

 3-5 cm. long. Staminate spihelets 10-15 mm. long, compressed, 

 ovate-lanceolate or oval, 4-7-flowered, light green or yellowish, joint 

 of rach ilia large, soft, sparingly pubescent, 1.5-3 mm. long; empty 

 glumes oblong-lanceolate, softly scabrid, first 7-10 mm long, 3-4-5- 

 nerved, second 8-11 mm. long, 3-7-nerved; floral glume 8-10 mm. 

 long, oval or oval-lanceolate, with soft hairs at the base and lower 

 part of the keel, apex notched, awnless, 3-10-nerved ; palea but 

 very little shorter than its glume, linear, ciliate on the keels, apex 

 notched. Anthers 5 mm. long. Pistillate spikelets with shorter 

 joints of the racliilla; empty glumes and floral glume a little shorter. 

 The comjn'essed spikelets and conduplicate blades point to affinities 

 with Poa. The following features show its affinity with Melica: 

 large, soft, scabrid, light green or yellowish sjoikelets, glumes oval, 

 rachilla long, large and soft; empty glumes usually more than 3- 

 nerved and floral glume more than 5-nerved and notched at the apex. 



Oregon, Howell. Sand-dunes, Tilamook Bay. 



15. M. spectabilis Scribn. Proc. Phila. Acad. 45 (1885). M. 

 bulbosa Porter & Coult. Fl. Colo. 149 (1874). 



A slender tufted stoloniferous grass, about GO cm. high, with a 

 corm at the base of each culm. Sheaths mostly longer than the 

 internodes; ligule white, about 2 mm. long; blades 3-4 in number, 

 scabrous, flat or involute, 15-20 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide. Panicle 

 slightly nodding, simple, 10-16 cm. long, racemose, rays slender. 



