No. 59. 

 DESCH AMPSI A HOLCIFORMIS Prcsl. Kel. Haenk. i. 251 (1830). 



riaut i>eipnnial, tufted, with iiuiiieious sterile shoots (Voqi a creeping rootstock. 



Culm erect, simple, terete, striate, smooth, rather robust, 20 to 30 inches tall. 



Linvcs of riidical tufts, ami of stci-ilc shoots, with smooth, fliartaccous sheaths and 

 slender, involute blades .s to lli inches long: leaves of the enlm usually 2; sheaths 

 smooth,8triate,ratherloose, half open above, exceeding the internodes; blades involute, 

 rather rigid, scabrid on the ])romineut nerves above, about 1 line wide, 3 to G inches 

 long; ligule niembranaeeous, nearly a<-ute, decurrent, 2 lines long. 



InflortKCfiuc an erect, closely Howered, somewhat interrupted, lance-oblong ])ani- 

 ele, 4 to r> inches long; rays 3 to 7, in glomerate clusters at the S to 10 nodes of the 

 slightly hispid axis, ascending, 1 iin-h long or less, subdivided, and densely (lowered 

 nearly to the base with short-jjedicelled, appressed spikelets. 



Sinkclcts oblanceolato, slightly compressed, 2-llowered with a steiile rudiment, 3 

 lines long; lirst empty glume hince-ol)long, acute, carinate, liis])id on the keel. 2 lines 

 long; second empty glume broadly lanceolate, acute, convex, 3-nerved, hispid on the 

 keel, 2.\ lines long; Moral glumi' oblong, ('(pially 4toothed at the truncate ai)ex, convex, 

 thicker than the cmiity glumes, minutely scabrid, pilose at the base, o-nerved, 2 liiu's 

 long; awn slender, 1 line long, arising below the middle sinus; palet broadly lance- 

 oblong, emarginate at the ai>ex, slightly hispid on the 2 keels; giain ellii)tical. i line 

 long, nearly eijualed by the 1 or 2 lodicules; rachilla and sterile pedicel pilose, each 

 1 line long. 



Plate LIX; a, spikelet partly dissected; b, floret opened; c, first empty glume; 

 d, second empty glume; e, floral glume. 



California, near the coast. It is probahly of some value for hay and forage in the 

 low marshes along the coast. It varies greatly under ditfei-ent conditions, some forms 

 with loose panicles even apiiroaching U. cwspitosa. 



