MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 195 



SECTION 1. BROMELICA Thurb. 



Spikelets narrow; glumes usually narrow, scarious margined (papery 

 in M. geyeri) ; sterile lemmas similar to the acute (obtuse in M . 

 harfordii) or awned fertile lemmas. 



1. Melica smithii (Porter) Vasey. SMITH MELIC. (Fig. 375.) 

 Culms slender, 60 to 120 cm tall; sheaths retrorsely scabrous; blades 

 lax, scabrous, 10 to 20 cm long, 



6 to 12 mm wide; panicle 12 to 

 25 cm long, the branches soli- 

 tary, distant, spreading, naked 

 below, sometimes reflexed, as 

 much as 10 cm long; spikelets 

 3- to 6-flowered, 18 to 20 mm 

 long, sometimes purplish; 

 glumes acute; lemmas about 

 10 mm long, with an awn 3 to 5 

 mm long. 9|. (Avena smithii 

 Porter.) Moist woodlands, 

 western Ontario and northern 

 Michigan to British Columbia, 

 south to Wyoming (Teton Moun- 

 tains) and Oregon (Wallowa 

 Mountains) (fig. 376). 



2. Melica aristata Thurb. 

 (Fig. 377.) Culms erect or de- 

 cumbent below, 60 to 100 cm 

 tall; sheaths scabrous to pubes- 

 cent; blades 3 to 5 mm wide, 

 more or less pubescent; panicle 

 narrow, 10 to 15 cm long, the 

 branches short, mostly appressed 

 or ascending; spikelets, exclud- 

 ing awns, about 15 mm long; 

 glumes 10 to 12 mm long; lem- 

 mas 7-nerved, scabrous, awned, 



the awn 6 to 10 mm long. 01 FIGURE 375. Metica smithii. Panicle, X 1; floret, 



-Dry woods, meadows; and X6 ' (Robbins ' Mich 



open slopes, Washington to the central Sierras of California. 



3. Melica harfordii Boland. HARFORD MELIC. (Fig. 378.) Culms 



tufted, 60 to 120 cm tall, often decumbent 

 below; sheaths scabrous to villous; blades 

 scabrous, firm, flat to subin volute, 1 to 4 

 mm wide; panicle narrow, 10 to 15 cm long, 

 the branches appressed; spikelets 1 to 1.5 

 cm long, short-pediceled ; glumes 7 to 9 mm 

 long, obtuse; lemmas rather faintly 7-nerved, 

 hispidulous below, pilose on the lower part of the 

 margin, the apex emarginate, mucronate, or with 



an awn less than 2 mm long. 2L Open dry woods and slopes, British 

 Columbia to the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, south to Monterey 



FIGURE 376. Distribution of 

 Melica smithii. 



