GRASS FAMILY 135 



Befs. SPABTINA POLIOSA Trin. Mem. Acad. St. PStersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 4 1 : 114. 1840, type 

 from California (without collector or locality) ; Davy in Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Gal. ed. 2. 58. 

 1911; Abrams, Fl. Los Ang. 42. 1904. S. stricta [Both, misapplied by] Thurb. in Wats. 

 Bot. Cal. 2: 290. 1880. Var. glabra [Muhl. misapplied by] Davy in Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 56. 1901. 



S. GLABRA Muhl. is said to grow at Wilmington (Abrams, Fl. Los Ang. 42. 

 1904). 



2. S. gracilis Trin. Culms 2 to 3 feet high ; blades flat, becoming involute, 

 6 to 8 inches long, very scabrous above ; spikes few, 4 to 8, closely appressed to 

 the axis, % to 1 inch long; spikelets much flattened laterally, about 3 lines 

 long; glumes smooth, except the ciliate keel, 1-nerved, acute but not awned, 

 the first about ^ as long as the second ; lemma about as long as second glume, 

 ciliate on keel; palea as long as lemma, obtuse, 2-nerved, but compressed- 

 keeled between the nerves. 



Alkaline meadows, Washington to Saskatchewan, south to eastern California 

 (Inyo Co., Coville & Funston 1002) and Arizona. 



Eefs. SPAETINA GRACILIS Trin. M&n. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 4 1 : 110. 1840; Thurb. 

 in Wats. Bot. Cal. 2 : 290. 1880. 



39. CHLORIS Swartz. 



Spikelets with 1 perfect flower, sessile in 2 rows along 1 side of a continuous 

 rachis. Glumes 2, unequal, narrow, acute, keeled. Rachilla prolonged behind 

 the fertile floret, bearing 1 or more rudimentary awned sterile lemmas. Lemma 

 1 to 3-nerved, often ciliate on the back or margins, the midnerve usually pro- 

 longed into a slender awn. Usually perennial grasses with flat blades, com- 

 pressed sheaths, and digitate unilateral spikes. Species about 40, in the 

 warmer regions of the world. (Latin Chloris, the goddess of flowers.) 



1. C. elegans H.B.K. Annual; culms erect or spreading, 1 to 3 feet high, 

 smooth; sheaths smooth, much compressed, especially the basal, the upper- 

 most often inflated around the base of the inflorescence ; spikes several, 6 to 12., 

 pale or dark-colored, 1 to 3 inches long ; spikelets imbricated, the glumes per- 

 sistent on the rachis after the falling of the florets ; glumes 1-nerved, the sec- 

 ond about l l /2 lines long, awn-pointed; lemma somewhat fusiform, about 1 

 line long, 3-nerved, short-pilose at base and along the lower half of the keel, 

 long-pilose on the margins near the apex, with a slender straight awn about 5 

 lines long, from- just below apex ; rudiment reaching about to tip of fertile 

 floret, truncate, the awn somewhat shorter. 



Fields and waste places, southern California to Texas and Mexico. 



Locs. Biverside, Reed (Parish, Bull. S. Cal. Aead. 8: 7. 1909); Ft. Yuma, Newberry; 

 Colorado River, Schellenger. 



Ref . CHLORIS ELEGANS H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 166. 1816. 



SCHEDONNARDUS PANicuLATUS Treleasc ; Branner & Coville, Rep. Geol. Surv, 

 Ark. 1888 4 : 236. 1891. Lepturus paniculatus Nutt. Gen. 1 : 81. 1818 ; Thurb. in 

 Wats. Bot. Cal. 2 : 322. 1880. This species is found on the Great Plains from 

 Canada to northern Mexico and as far west as New Mexico, but probably does not 

 occur in California. Thurber (1. c.) gives one locality in the latter state, "Mon- 

 terey (Dr. Canfield)," and in the Gray Herbarium are two specimens labeled 

 " Calif orniaNuttall." 



40. BOUTELOUA Lag. 



Spikelets with 1 perfect flower, sessile in 2 rows along 1 side of a flat rachis, 

 the latter usually projecting beyond the spikelets. Glumes unequal, keeled. 



