No. 85. 

 POA UNILATERALIS Scribiicr «]». )i<>v. 



I'Idiit i)cieiiiiial, tufted or in small biuicbcs, I'loiii a stiouj; rootstock. 



Culmx erect, or decumbent at the base, smooth, leafy nearly to the pauicle, Id to 

 L'O inches tall, thickeiicd or almost bulbous. 



Lcatm from the base uumerous, with loose, scarious sheaths and tiat, conduplicate 

 or involute blades, slender, thin, flexible, 2 to 5 inches long, less than 1 line wide: 

 leaves of the culm '2 or 3; sheaths nearly smooth, striate, rather loose, usually open 

 at tlie throat, shorter than the iuternodes; blades 1 to 13 inches long-, ligule attenuate, 

 acute, 2 to 3 lines long. 



Inflorescence a densely flowered, secnnd, spike-like panic^le 1 to 3 inches long, ^ 

 inch thick; rays scabrous, mostly in twos (jr threes at the s to 10 nodes, 1 inch long uv 

 less, erect, crowded with appressed spikelets. 



Spilcrlets oblong, compressed, 5 lines long, 5- to 7-flowered with a small rudiment; 

 empty glumes ovate, acute, carinate, his]»id on the keel, minutely serrulate on the 

 scai'ious nuirgins, 1- to 3-uerved, li to 3 lines long, shorter than tlie lower florets; floral 

 gliune ovate, acute, hispid on the keels, imbescent at the base, not webbed, 2 lines 

 long; palet linear, emarginate, pubescent on the keels, nearly equaling the glume; 

 stamens 3 with exserted anthers, grain linear, reddish ])rown, semitransluc-ent, 1 line 

 long; lodicules less than ^ line long; iuternode of rachilla thick, pubescent, i line long. 



Plate LXXXV; a, pistillate spikelet; b, staminate floret. 



California, from San Francisco southward along the coast. The species is imper- 

 fectly diiecious, witli little difterence between the sexes, excei>t that the staminate 

 l)lants have flatter and more open si)ikelets with thinner glumes. It may be readily 

 distinguished from P. viacraiithn and /'. Doitglasii by its narrow ]tanicle of smaller 

 spikelets and by the slender, flexible leaves. The spike is often more or less one-sided; 

 hence the specific name. 



