No. 64. 

 MELICA FRUTESCENS Scribu. Proc. Acad. Pliila. for 1885, 45 (1885). 



rUnit perennial, tufted, or in small bunches, with rather strong roots. 



CiilniN erect, simple, or branched below, stout and almost woody at the base, leafy 

 throughout, 2.i to ;Ji feet tall. • 



Leaves of culm 5 to 7, or on the branching forms more numerous; sheatli 

 striate, somewhat retrorsely scabrid, closed, usually i)urple below, exceediiiji the in- 

 teruodcs; blades tiat or involute toward the sleiuler points, scabrid on Itoth sides, 

 5 to 12 inches long; ligule acute, lacerate, or thinly fimbriate, 2 to 4 lines long. 



Inforcficencr an erect, strict, linear panicle, somewhat interrn])ted below, almost 

 spicate above, to 12 inches long; rays mostly in pairs, uneiiual. 3 inches long or less, 

 ai)pressed, spikelet bearing to the base or the longer ones naked below. 



S2)ih'h>t,s oblanceolatc, turgid, .T to 7 lines long, with usually 5 perfect flowers 

 and a more or less developed rudiment; first empty glume lanceolate, acute, often 

 denticulate near the apex, thin, minutely scabrid, 5- to 7-nerved, 5 lines h)ng; second 

 empty glume oblanceolate, acute, thin, ineinbranaeeous above, 7-nerved, (i lines long: 

 thu'al glume lanceolate, obtuse, thin, iu'rbaceous, and 7-nerv»'d to the middk', thin, 

 membranaceous above, minutely scabrid throughout, 4 to 4.i lines long; palet oblan 

 ceolate, rounded at the apex, nervose, minutely scabrid, ciliateon the keels, which are 

 arched and nearly marginal above, 2 lines long; grain oblong, with a slight beaU. 

 brown, flat on one side, wiinklcd, 1 line long; interuode of rachilla minutely pubes- 

 cent, disarticulating at the base of each tioret. 



I'l.ATK LXIV; a, ])aniclo of the larger form; l>. spikelet witli florets spread 

 about as they are at maturity; c, floret of larger-flowered form; <l, floret of typical 

 form; c, grain. 



Southern California and adjacent Lower California and Mexico. Somewhat 

 bunched (growing in den^e clumps) in the vicinity of San Diego; less so at higher 

 elevations. Tlie thin, papery tips of tlie ghunes give the panicle a white appearance. 



