68 GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



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



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



Spikelets zistvmlinK on the long lax branchlets of the panicle . . 2. M. Smithn. 

 Panicle dense and narrow; stems with bulbous base. 



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



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, Beal'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. ]S 7 orthern 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 surf ace 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 mo 

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



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

 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. 



cle 

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64. DACTYLIS L. ORCHARD GRASS 



I iiit her stout tufted perennial grasses with numerous rough leaves. Spike- 

 \ -flowered, with a glumiferous rudiment, perfect, compressed, sessile or 

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

 ln.icM all herbaceous, or the lower ones submembranaceous, carinate and 

 hi>|>id-riliate on the keel. Glumes lanceolate, acute, subequal, shorter than the 

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

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



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

 : Hat, hispid, '2 1 elm. long: panicle 1-2 dm. long, irregularly pyramidal: 



^pikelets f>-s mm. long. Introduced; a valuable grass in cultivation. 



