38 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



to a raceme; spikelets (excluding awns) 2 to 3 cm long, mostly 5- to 10- 

 flowered, the florets in anthesis little or not at all overlapping, exposing 

 the rather long rachilla joints; glumes acuminate, 10 to 15 mm long; 

 lemmas more or less appressed-pubescent, rarely glabrous, about 

 2 mm wide as folded, 10 to 20 mm long; awn 7 to 15 mm long; palea 

 gradually acuminate, nearly as long as the lemma, the teeth short- 

 awned. 21 Open ground, open woods, and waste places, at low 

 and middle altitudes, common on the Pacific coast, extending into 



FIGURE 11. Bromus carinatus, X 1. (Hitchcock 2704, Calif.) 



British Columbia, Idaho, through Montana to New Mexico and 

 northern Mexico; introduced in Indiana (fig. 12). 



Closely allied to Bromus carinatus are the following forms which 

 may be considered members of a variable and polymorphous species. 

 These forms are by some given the rank of species, but they are con- 

 nected by numerous intergrades which can be distinguished only 

 arbitrarily. 



BROMUS MARGIN^TUS Nees. Mostly perennial ; spikelets on the aver- 

 age broader than in B. carinatus, the awn usually less than 7 mm long; 

 panicles large and open with spreading or 

 drooping but not deflexed branches, or reduced 

 to racemes with a few appressed spikelets; 

 glumes often pubescent; lemmas usually pu- 

 bescent. 91 Open woods, open ground, 

 and waste places, common on the Pacific coast, 

 extending north to British Columbia, east to 

 South Dakota, Colorado, and western Texas, 

 and south into northern Mexico; introduced 

 in Alaska, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, and sparingly at other points. 



BROMUS MARITIMUS (Piper) Hitchc. Perennial; culms robust, 

 mostly less than 60 cm tall, more or less geniculate at base with 

 numerous leafy basal shoots; sheaths smooth or minutely scaberulous; 

 blades 12 to 30 cm long, mostly 6 to 8 mm wide, scabrous; panicle 

 mostly 10 to 20 cm long, strict, the branches short, erect; spikelets 

 3 to 4 cm long. 21 (B. marginatus maritimus Piper.) Near the 

 coast from Sonoma County to Monterey County, Calif. 



BROMUS POLYANTHUS Scribn. Stout perennial as much as 100 cm 

 tall, with smooth sheaths, scabrous blades, erect or somewhat spread- 



FIGURE 12. Distribution of 

 Bromus carinatus. 



