Bent-grass Tribe 37 



callus with a tuft of minute hairs at the base of each margin of 

 the flowering glume; flowering glume 1.5 mm. long, glabrous, 

 minutely 2-toothed at the apex, awnless ; palea obsolete. 

 Occasional in low moist places in the coast valleys. 



3. A. Diegoensis Vasey. Perennial from slender stoloniferous 

 rootstocks ; culms erect, 4-8 dm. high ; sheaths minutely scabrid ; 

 blades 6-15 cm. long, 2 mm. wide, scabrid; panicle lax, narrow, 

 6-14 cm. long, its branches erect; spikelets 3-4 mm. long; empty 

 glumes nearly equal, scabrid; callus hairy at the base of each 

 margin of the flowering glume ; flowering glume 2.5-3 mm. long, 

 scabrid especially on the margins, 4-toothed ; palea obsolete. 



Not known within our limits, but occasional in San Diego County and ex- 

 tending north to Washington. 



18. GASTBIDIUM Beauv. NIT-GRASS. 



Caespitose annuals with flat leaves and shining 

 spike-like panicles. Spikelets 1-flowered, hermaphrodite ; 

 rachilla prolonged behind the palea. Empty glumes 2, 

 equal, enlarged or saccate at the base, keeled above ; 

 flowering glume much shorter than the empty ones, 

 hyaline, truncate or obtusely 2-lobed, awnless or bearing 

 a slender awn just below the apex. Palea narrow, about 

 the length of the glume. Stamens 3. Styles short, dis- 

 tinct ; stigmas plumose. Grain subglobose, free, included 

 within the ventricose base of the glume. 



1. G-. lendigerum (L.) Gaud. Culms more or less tufted, 

 erect, 15-60 cm. high; sheaths shorter than the internodes, 

 smooth ; leaves, 3-10 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, acuminate, 

 scabrous; panicle spike-like, 5-10 cm. long, 1 cm. wide, pale 

 green and shining; spikelets lanceolate, 5-6 mm. long; empty 

 glumes scabrous above ; flowering glume hairy, bearing a slender 

 awn below the middle. 



Common on dry ground in the chaparral belt throughout our range. Na- 

 tive of southern Europe. 



