ne a EE ee 
BRIZA GRAMINEZE 765 
FESTUCA 
E. lutescens Scribn. U. 8. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Cir. 9,7. A low 
much branched and densely cespitose annual, 4-8 inches high: sheaths 
loose, smooth or with a few short hairs at the throat: ligules very short, 
ciliate: leaves flat, 1-3 inches long, 1-2 lines wide, minutely scabrous 
above, very acute: panicle pale green or straw-color, 2-4 inches long, its 
branches ascending to appressed, spikelets narrowly oblong, 3-12-flowered: 
empty glumes unequal, the first about 4% line long, the second % longer; 
flowering glumes about 1 line long, obtuse.3-nerved. On sandy banks along 
Snake river eastern Washington to Idaho. 
47 BRIZA L. Sp. 70. | 
Annual or perennial grasses with flat or convolute leaves, a 
open or rarely contracted panicles. Spikelets flattened, several- 
flowered, nodding: flowers perfect, glumes thin, membranous, 
strongly concave, the two lower empty, 3-5 nerved, flowering 
glumes imbracted, broader than the empty ones, 5-many-nerved, 
the uppermost glumes often empty. Palets much shorter than 
the glumes, hyaline, 2-keeled or 2-nerved. Stamens 3. Styles 
distinct, with plumous stigmas. Grain usually free, enclosed in 
the glume and palet. 
B. minor L. Sp. 70. Stems slender, 4-15 inches high, from an annual 
root, simple: sheaths shorter than the internodes: ligules 1-3 lines long, 
acute: leaves 1-5, 1-4 lines wide, sometimes scabrous: panicles 2-5 inches 
long, open, its capillary branches spreading or ascending, 1-3 inches long: 
spikelets 3-9-flowered, 1-14 lines long, about 2 lines broad, truncate at the 
base: glumes scarious-margined, the empty ones about 1 line long: flowering 
glumes much broader and deeply saccate, about 3% line long. Common in 
' southwestern Oregon to California: naturalized from Europe. 
48 FESTUCA L. §p. 73. 
Annual or perennial grasses with flat or convolute leaves and 
paniculate inflorescence. Spikelets two- to several-flowered, the 
two lower glumes empty, more or less unequal, acute, keeled: 
flowering glumes membranaceous, ‘narrow, rounded on the back, 5- 
nerved, usually acute, and generally awned at the apex. Palets 
scarcely shorter than the glumes. Stamens 1-3. Styles very 
short, distinct, with plumose, stigmas. Grain glabrous, elongated, 
often adherent to the glume or palet. 
F. microstachya Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. n. s. i, 187. Stems slen- 
der, erect, 6-20 inches high, from an annual root: sheaths shorter, than 
the internodes, smooth or pubescent: ligules very short: leaves 2-4, erect, 
slender, 1-4 inches long: panicle erect, racemose or spicate, 2-5 inches long, 
_ its branches channelled; single or some of the lowest in pairs, erect, spread- 
ing or deflexed, the longest 6-18 lines long: spikelets 1-5-flowered: empty 
glumes involute, the first 2-3 lines long, second 3-5 lines pg i flowering 
glumes convex, involute., acuminate, scabrous: 24-4 lines long: palets 
scabrous, bearing 2 short awns: stamens 1: very variable. Ondry open 
ridges, Arizona to Brit. Columbia. 
Var. ciliata Gray, Beal Grasses N. Am. ii, 587. Axis, branches of 
panicle and glumes all strongly ciliate. Ondry ridges, southern Oregon 
to California. 
Var. pauciflora Scribn. Vasey, Cat. Grasses U. 8. 90. Stems 
slender, 1-2 feet high: panicle louse, with longer branches: spikelets 1-2- 
flowered, the flowering glumes with awns 6-12 lines long. On dry.open 
