32 Agrostideae 



scabrid, involute setaceous at the apex; basal leaves about ^ as 

 long as the culm, culm leaves 3-4, 2-6 mm. wide, the upper 3-6 

 cm. long; ligule short with some hairs at the throat; panicle 

 exserted, narrow, 12-40 cm. long, the shorterect branches in 2'sor 

 3's ; empty glumes nearly equal, ovate-lanceolate, bristle-pointed, 

 6-12 mm. long; flowering glumes pubescent, 5-6 mm. long; awn 

 slender, flexuose, usually twice bent, 2-4 cm. long, pubescent or 

 plumose below ; palea about half as long as its glume ; anthers 

 naked. 



Elysian Park, Davidson. Mt. Wilson in open pine woods. 



11. MUHLENBEBGIA Schreb. DROP-SEED GRASS. 



Perennial or annual grasses with convolute or flat 

 leaves and paniculate inflorescence. Rootstocks often 

 scaly. Spikelets 1-2-flowered. Glumes 3 or rarely 4 ; 

 the outer ones empty, membranous or hyaline, acute 

 and sometimes awned ; the third 3-5-nerved, subtending 

 a palea and perfect flower, obtuse, acute or produced 

 into a capillary awn ; stamens usually 3. Styles dis- 

 tinct. Callus minute. Grain narrow free, tightly en- 

 closed in the glume. 



1. M. Californica (Vasey). Culms spreading, diffusely 

 branched, 4-8 dm. high ; panicles terminating the long, leafy, ter- 

 minal and lateral branches, 10-15 cm. long, its branches mostly 

 alternate, the lower distant and subspicate ; spikelets sessile and 

 crowded on the branches; empty glumes membranous except the 

 hispid green keel, equal, lanceolate, acuminate, scarcely 4 mm. 

 long, somewhat exceeding the flowering glume ; flowering glume 

 about 3 mm. long, firm, scabrous, acute and terminating in a 

 straight awn of about its own length, sparingly villous at the 

 base ; palea about equaling the glume, acute. (M. sylvatica Cali- 

 fornica Vasey, Bot. Gaz. 7 : 93. 1882. M. Parishii Vasey, Bull. 

 Torr. Bot. Club. 13 : 53. 1886.) 



San Bernardino Mountains, Parish; near Pasadena, Davidson; San Diego. 



2. M. debilis Trin. Culms tufted, decumbent at base and 

 much branched, purplish throughout, 1-4 dm. high ; leaves 25- 

 50 mm. long, puberulent; ligule 1 mm. long, lacerate; panicle 5- 

 12 cm. long, usually spreading, branches 25-35 mm. long, mostly 



