68 GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



Panicle lax or the spikelets spreading; stems not bulbous at base. 



Spikelets at length pendulous . . . . . . . . 1. M. parviflora. 



Spikelets ascending on the long lax branchlets of the panicle . . 2. M. Smithii. 

 Panicle dense and narrow; stems with bulbous base. 



Second glume evidently shorter than the lemma . . . . 3. M. spectabilis. 



Second glume and lemma subequal . . . . . . . 4. M. bulbosa. 



1. Melica parviflora (Porter) Scribn. Mem. Torr. Club 5: 50. 1894. Culms 

 5-8 dm. high: leaves narrow, 2-3 dm. long: spikelets racemose, pendent on 

 the few slender branches, 8-12 mm. long, 2-4-flowered: glumes equal, about 

 one third shorter than the lower floret: grain oblong, subacute, 2.5 mm. long. 

 M. Porteri. Colorado to Arizona and Texas. 



2. Melica Smithii (Porter) Vasey, Beat's Grasses N. A. 2: 509. 1896. Culms 

 slender, 5-10 dm. high: leaves flat, thin, scabrous, 15^-20 cm. long, 6-8 mm. 

 broad: panicle open, 15-20 cm. long; the rays mostly single, distant, at length 

 spreading, bearing rather few spikelets mostly above the middle: spikelets 

 2-5-flowered: glumes scabrous; lemma 7-nerved, 2-toothed; palet linear, 

 longer than its lemma. Northern part of our range and thence eastward and 

 westward. 



3. Melica spectabilis Scribn. Proc. Phila. Acad. 45. 1885. Panicle nod- 

 ding, loosely few-flowered, the slender branches erect-spreading: terminal 

 floret acute: lemma very broadly acuminate, obtuse or notched at the 

 tip. M. bulbosa of Bot. King's Exp. and Fl. Colorado. This differs from 

 M . bulbosa Geyer in its usually taller and more slender stems, more open 

 and nodding panicle, more slender and flexuose pedicels, shorter glumes, 

 and broader lemmas which taper abruptly to a rounded and usually two- 

 lobed summit. In the mountains, from Colorado and Utah to Montana and 

 Idaho. 



4. Melica bulbosa Geyer, Hook. Journ. Bot. 8: 19. 1873. Stems single or 

 densely tufted, usually 4-5 dm. high, simple: sheaths and upper surface of the 

 leaves scabrous: panicle erect, the branches appressed, few-flowered: spikelets 

 10-12 mm. long, with 5-8 perfect flowers, the terminal floret acute. From 

 Wyoming and Montana to Oregon and Washington. 



63. DISTICHLIS Raf. 



Rather low rigid leafy grasses from perennial running rootstocks. Dioecious. 

 Spikelets 6-15-flowered, compressed, linear or narrowly oval, smooth, awnless, 

 in small subspicate panicles. Second glume slightly larger than the first, but 

 shorter than the lower floret; lemma rather rigid, ovate, acute, indistinctly 7- 

 11 -nerved, slightly larger than the thin palet. The pistillate spikelets more 

 turgid, otherwise alike. Grain oblong, oblique, subacute, opaque. 



1. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2: 415. 1887. Culms 

 erect, 2-4 dm. high: leaves usually crowded, distichous and rigid: panicle 

 4-8 cm. long: spikelets about 1 cm. long. Common in saline soil throughout 

 our range and far to the northwestward. 



64. DACTYLIS L. ORCHAKD GRASS 



Rather stout tufted perennial grasses with numerous rough leaves. Spike- 

 lets 2-4-flowered, with a glumiferous rudiment, perfect, compressed, sessile or 

 very short-pediceled in glomerate clusters in a rather dense branching panicle ; 

 bracts all herbaceous, or the lower ones submembranaceous, carinate and 

 hispid-ciliate on the keel. Glumes lanceolate, acute, subequal, shorter than the 

 lower florets; lemma mucronate, 5-nerved, slightly exceeding the hyaline 

 palet. Grain linear, yellow, opaque, channeled or triquetrous. 



1. Dactylis glomerata L. Sp. PI. 71. 1753. Culms 6-10 dm. high, simple: 

 leaves flat, hispid, 2-4 dm. long: panicle 1-2 dm. long, irregularly pyramidal: 

 spikelets 5-8 mm. long. Introduced; a valuable grass in cultivation. 



