MELICA GRAMINE^E 751 



DISTICHLIS 



al nerves below the middle, 7-9-nerved, 4-5 lines long: palet oblong, obtuse 

 or emarginate, pubescent on the 2 arched keels, 3-4 lines long. On open 

 ridges in the mountains, Oregon to California. 



Var. minor Vasey, Beal Grasses N. Am. ii, 510. Stems slender, 

 10-15 inches high erect: panicles very simple, 1)^-4 inches long: spikelets 

 usually 3-flowered. On dry ridges in the Siekiyou Mountains. 



M. arlstata Thurber, Bolander Proc. Cal. Acad. iv, 103. Stems slen- 

 dei , tufted, 2-4 feet high : leaves flat, 2-4 inches long, 8 lines wide : panicle 

 narrow, 5-12 inches long, its branches erect: spikelets 3-5-flowered, pale or 

 purplish : first empty glume oblong, about 3 lines long; the second about 

 a line longer : flowering glumes about 5 lines long, with a few stiff marginal 

 hairs near the base, very scabrous, the central nerve excurrent just below 

 the bifid tip as an awn 3-5 lines long : palet about 3% lines long, strongly 

 ciliate at the apex. In mountains, Washington to California. 



M. acuminata Bolander 1. c. 104. Stems slender, erect, 2-3 feet high, 

 with thickened bulbous base : sheaths mostly equalling or shorter than the 

 internodes, more or le&a pubescent : ligules 1-2 lines long, laciniate : panicle 

 4-12 inches long, narrow, the capillary branches erect or barely spreading: 

 spikelets 3-5-flowered, often purplish: first empty glume linear, about 2 

 lines long, much smaller than the acuminate second one : flowering glumes 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate about 5 lines long. 5-7-nerved : ciliate on the 

 margins below : palet about half as long as the glume, densely ciliate above, 

 narrowly truncate. In open woods, California to Alaska. 



M. spectabilis Scribn. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1885, 45. A slender tufted 

 stoloniferous perennial : stems about 2% feet high, with a corm at the base 

 of each : sheaths mostly longer than the internodes: ligules white, about 1 

 line long: leaves 3-4, flat or involute, scabrous, 7-10 inches long, 1-2 lines 

 wide : panicle simple, 5-8 inches long, its slender branches solitary or in 

 pairs, sometimes in threes, the longest 1K~ 2 inches long: spikelets 3-8- 

 flowered: empty glumes ovate, obtuse or acute, with transverse nerves 

 near the middle, the first 3-nerved, the second 5-nerved, 2^-3 lines long: 

 flowering glumes 3>-4 lines long, abruptly tapering, oval, the apex with 2 

 very short teeth or a notch, 7-9-nerved : palet elliptical, 2% lines long. 

 Oregon to Montana and California. 



M. scabrata Scribn. Piper & Beattie Fl. Palouse Eeg. 25. Stems 

 mostly solitary, erect, 2-4 feet high, with bulbous base: sheaths nearly as 

 long o*r longer than the internodes, scabrous : leaves flat, linear, 5-7 inches 

 long, 1-2 lines wide, scabrous on both sides : panicle erect. narrow, 3-7 inches 

 long, lower branches mostly in threes, the 2 outer short and bearing a single 

 spikelet, the central one longer and bearing 2-5 spikelets 5-7-flowered, 

 usually purple ; lower empty glumes 2)^ lines long, the upper 3)^-4 lines 

 long, aoutish: flowering glumes about 3} lines long all minutely 

 scabrous. In low meadows about Pullman Washington. 



39 DISTICHLIS Raf. Journ. Phys. Ixxxix, 104. 



Dioecious grasses with rigid stems, creeping or decumbent at 

 base, flat or convolute leaves, arid numerous spikelets in spike- 

 like panicles. Spikelets flattened, more numerous on the stamin- 

 ate plants than on the pistilate, 6-16-flowered. Rachella con- 

 tinuous in the staminate spikelets, articulated in the pistillate. 

 Two lower glumes empty, narrow, keeled, acute, shorter than the 

 flowering ones. Flowering glumes broader, many-nerved, acute, 

 rigid. Palets 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles thickened at the 

 base, rather long, distinct. Stigmas long-plumose. Grain free 

 enclosed in the glume and palet. 



