GRASS FAMILY Igf) 



69. ELYMUS L. 



Spikelets 2 to 6-flowered, in pairs, sessile at the joints of a continuous rachis, 

 rarely single or more than two together. Glumes equal, usually narrow and 

 rigid, 1 to 3-nerved, acute or awned, placed at the sides or close together in 

 front of the florets. Lemmas convex, obscurely 5-nerved, usually acute or 

 awned from the apex. Erect perennials (except E. caput-medusae) with ter- 

 minal, often bristly spikes. Species about 25, in temperate regions of both 

 hemispheres. (Greek elumos, an ancient name for a kind of millet.) 



Plants annual 1. E. caput-medusae. 



Plants perennial. 



Glumes subulate, nearly or quite nerveless. 



Lemmas pubescent ; plant cinereus-pubescent 2. E. cinereus. 



Lemmas glabrous or hispidulous. 



Plant stout and tall; blades usually more than 4 lines wide, flat; rhizomes thick; spike 



dense 3. E. condensatus. 



Plant slender; blades usually less than 2y 2 lines wide, involute; rhizome slender; spike 



slender 4. E. triticoidcs. 



Glumes lanceolate, distinctly nerved. 



Plant producing rhizomes 5. E. arenarius. 



Plant not producing rhizomes. 



Awn of lemma a short point 6. E. pubescens. 



Awn of lemma once or twice as long as body 7. E. glaucus. 



1. E. caput-medusae L. Annual; culms branched at base, erect or decum- 

 bent at base, slender, 8 inches to 2 feet high ; blades narrow and short ; spike 

 1 to 2 inches long, long-awned; glumes awl-shaped, smooth, indurated below, 

 narrowed into a slender awn l / 2 to 1 inch long; lemmas lanceolate, 3-nerved, 

 3 lines long, flat, very scabrous, gradually narrowed into a flat awn, 2 to 4 

 inches long. 



Open ground, California to Washington ; introduced from Europe. Klama- 

 thon, Copeland 3493 ; Los Gatos, Hitchcock 2631. 

 Eef. ELYMUS CAPUT-MEDUSAE L. Sp. PI. 84. 1753. 



2. E. cinereus Scribn. & Merr. Culms erect, stout, puberulent, 4 to 5 feet 

 high; sheaths and blades cinereus-pubescent, the latter with an indurated 

 point ; spike erect, 6 to 8 inches long, dense, interrupted below ; spikelets 7 to 

 9 lines long ; glumes subulate, about ^ inch long, scabrous-pubescent ; lemmas 

 scabrous-pubescent, especially the apex, faintly nerved, obtuse, mucronate or 

 with a short awn-point. 



The type is from Pahrump Valley, Nevada. The only specimen seen from 

 California is from Lancaster, Elmer 3662. 



Eef. ELYMUS CINEREUS Scribn. & Merr. Bull. Torr. Club 29: 467. 1902. 



3. E. condensatus Presl. Culms in large tufts, stout, 3 to 6 feet high, pro- 

 ducing stout knotty rhizomes; sheaths smooth; blades flat, as much as 10 

 lines wide; spike erect, usually dense, as much as a foot long, sometimes 

 branched; glumes narrowly lanceolate or subulate, awn-pointed, usually only 

 1-nerved, or nerveless ; about as long as the first lemma ; lemmas awnless or 

 mucronate. 



Dry plains and hillsides and along gullies and ditches, southern California 

 to British Columbia and Alberta, and east to Nebraska. In California found espe- 

 cially in the coastal region from San Francisco southward. A botanic garden speci- 

 men from Davy, said to have been cultivated at Berkeley from seed from San 

 Emigdio Canon, Kern Co., and a second cultivated specimen of which the source 



