FESTUCEiE. 547 



nerves near the base, oval, abruptly acute, the 5 nerves obscure; 

 palea nearly as long as its glume, scabrid on the keels. For a fur- 

 ther account see Vol. I. p. 137, Fig. 67. 



Vermont, Fringle; New Jersey, Scrihner for U. S. Dei^t. Agri- 

 cul. G42; Michigan, Clarlc '111, 717, Beal 127, 128, C'oo%; Minne- 

 sota, Arthur X 18, B 527; Colorado, Lettermcm 30; Arizona, 

 Tourney 122 ; Oregon, Howell. 



Dry soil, rarely seen in woods. Extensively naturalized from 

 Europe, and possibly indigenous northward. 



28. P. Wheeleri Vasey, Kothr. Rep. Bot. U. S. Surv. 6:291 

 (1878). 



Perennial, with running rootstocks. Culms 20-GO cm. high.^ 

 Ligule 1.5 mm. long; blades of sterile slioots 15-20 cm. long, 3 

 mm. wide, rigid, conduplicate or involute with a firm oblique point, 

 upper blade of culm 1-3 cm. long. Panicle open, thin, 8-12 

 cm. long, ovoid, rays slender, mostly in pairs, the longer 3-5 cm. 

 long, bearing a few spikelets near the apex. Spikelets lance-ellip- 

 tical, 6-7 mm. long, 3-flowered, lower joint of rachilla 1.5 mm. 

 long; empty glumes subequal, ovate-lanceolate, 3-nerved, second 

 one 3.7 mm. long; floral glume not webbed, 4.2 mm. long, ciliate 

 on the lateral nerves and on the lower two-fifths of the keel, oval,, 

 subacute when spread, margins scarious; palea truncate, very 

 nearly as long as its glume, ciliate on the keels. 



Colorado (South Park), Wolfe 1131^, in herb. Scribuer, Dr. 

 Engelman, Letterman 29, 44. 



29. P. confinis Vasey, 111. N. A. Gr. 2: 75 (1893), 



An erect tufted dioecious perennial, 10-20-30 cm. high, from 

 slender creeping rootstocks. The second and often the third and 

 fourth leaves from the top of the culms containing erect leafy, non- 

 flowering branches in their axils. Sheaths smooth ; ligule involute, 

 acute, 1-2 mm. long; blades of the branches smooth, extending to 

 the base or the apex of the panicles, conduplicate, in cross-section 

 ovate or oval, destitute of bulliform cells, 6-8 mm. diam., 7-nerved 

 with 9 bands of sclerenchyma, the extreme apex obliquely obtuse, 

 the upper blade 1-3 cm. long, with the upper jiart of the sheath 

 involute like the blade. Panicle dense, linear, subsecund, 2-4-5 



