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Fig. 272. POA AliPINA L. Sp. PI. 07. 1758. MOUNTAIN SPEAR-GRASS.— 

 A slender, or stout, csespitose, glabrous, erect perennial 0.5-3 dm. (3'-12') high, 

 with rather broad, flat leaves and spreading pyramidal panicles of compara- 

 tively large spikelets. Sheaths shorter than the internodes; ligule 2 mm. (1") 

 long, truncate; leaf-blades 2-8 cm. (l'-3') long, 2-1 mm. (l"-2") wide, abruptly 

 acute. Spikelets («,&, o) 3 to 6 flowered, 5-6 mm. (2i"-3'0 long; empty glumes 

 broad, glabrous except for the scabrous keel; flowering glumes (d) about 4 mm. 

 (2") long, pilose for half their length, pubescent between the nerves toward the 

 base.— Edges of brooks, open grassy mountain slopes, canyons, etc., Newfound- 

 land and Quebec to Hudson Bay and Alaska, south in the mountains to Colorado, 

 altitude 3.600 m. (10,800°)), Utah and California. (Widely distributed, arctic 

 and subalpine.) June to August. 



