peg - - @RAMINER 745 
DESCHAMPSIA 
stems simple, erect, 6-20 inches high sheaths usually shorter than the 
internodes: ligules 44-1 line long: leaves 1-4 inches long, 1-2 lines wide: 
“nya spike-like, 1-5 inches long, often interrupted below, its branches 
46 inches long or less, erect: spikelets 2-3-flowered, the empty glumes 
hispid on the keel, shining, the second about 244 lines long: flowering 
glumes 2-244 lines long, acuminate, scabrous: awn inserted below the 
sinus, bent and twisted below. In rocky places in the high mountains, 
California to Alaska and across the continent. 
Var. molle Gray Man. 641. Stems and leaves minutely soft-downy 
Range of the type. : 
29 AIRA L. Sp. 63. 
Mostly annual grasses with narrow leaves and contracted or 
open panicles. Spikelets small, two-flowered, both flowers perfect. 
glumes 4, the two lower empty, thin-membranous, acute, subequal, 
persistent: the flowering glumes usually contiguous, hyaline, mu- 
cronate or 2-toothed, deciduous, bearing a delicate dorsal awn 
inserted below the middle. Palet a little shorter than the glume, 
hyaline, 2-nerved. Stamens 3, with plumose stigmas. Grain en- 
closed in the glume and palet and often adherent to them. 
A. CARYOPHYLLEA L. Sp. 66. Smooth and glabrous throughout: stems 
6-10 inches high, erect, from an annual root: sheaths-mostly basal: ligules 
14% lines long: leaves 6-25 lines long, involute-setaceous: panicle 1-4 
inches long, open, the branches spreading or ascending: spikelets 1-114 
lines long, the empty glumes acute: flowering glumes very acute, 2-tooth- 
ed 1 line long: awn 1-2 lines long. Common in dry open places: natural- 
ized from Europe. ° 
A. pracox L. Sp. 65. Smooth throughout: stems 1-4 inches high, 
erect, from an annual root, simple, rigid: sheaths shorter than the inter- 
nodes: ligules about 14g lines long: leaves 1 inch long or less, involute- 
setaceous: panicle contracted, strict, 6-12 lines long, its base often enclosed 
in the upper sheath: spikelets about 114 lines long, the empty glumes 
acute: flowering glumes acuminate, 2-tooted at the apex, about 1% lines 
long: awn straight, 1-2 lines long. In dry places: naturalized from Eu. 
30 DESCHAMPSIA Beauv. Agrost. 91. (1812.) 
Perennial grasses with flat or involute leaves and numerous 
flowers in contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 2-flowered, 
both perfect; the hairy rachella extended beyond the flowers or 
rarely terminated by a staminate one. Glumes 4, rarely more, 
the 2 lower empty, keeled, acute, membranous shining, persistent ; 
the flowering glumes of abcut the same texture, deciduous, 2- 
toothed at the apex and bearing a dorsal awn. Palet narrow, 2- 
nerved. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain 
free, enclosed in the glume. | 
D. cwxspitosa Beauv. Agrost. 160, t. 18, fig. 3. Densely cespitose 
with very numerous basal leaves: Stems erect, slender 2-4 feet high; sim- 
le, glabrous: sheaths much shorter than the internodes: ligules 1-3 lines 
ong: leaves flat 1-144 lines wide, smooth beneath, strongly scabrous above, 
the basal ones 14- as long as the stem, those of the stem 2-6 inches long: 
panicle open 3-6 inches long, the branches widely spreading or ascending 
often somewhat flexuous the lower 2-5 inches long: spikelets 134-2 lines 
long: empty glumes unequal, lanceolate, acute; flowering glume oblong, 
