46 Festuceae 



2. K. cristata pinetorum. Closely resembling the type in 

 habit and floral characters, but the sheaths and leaves soft-pubes- 

 cent. (K. cristata pubescens Vasey, not of Beauv.) 



Occasional in open pine forests. Wilson's Peak; San Bernardino Moun- 

 tains; San Jacinto Mountains. 



29. MEL.ICA L. MELIC-GRASS. 



Perennial often tufted grasses with usually flat leaves 

 and contracted or open panicles. Spikelets 1-several- 

 flowered, often secund. The rachilla extended beyond 

 the flowers and generally bearing 2-3 empty club-shaped 

 or hooded glumes, convolute around each other. Two 

 outer glumes empty, membranous, 3-5-nerved ; flowering 

 glumes larger, rounded on the back, 7-13-nerved, some- 

 times bearing an awn, the margins more or less scari- 

 ous. Palea broad, shorter than the glume, 2-keeled. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain free, enclosed in the 

 palea and glume. 



1. M. imperfecta Trin. Culms slender, somewhat tufted, 3-10 

 dm. high; sheaths exceeding the internodes; blades 6-7, flat or 

 becoming involute, usually glabrous or more or less scabrous, 

 15-20 cm. long, about 2 mm. wide; panicle 2-3 dm. long, its 

 branches in remote clusters, unequal, the longer 5-7 cm. long; 

 spikelets scabrid 1-flowered, with an imperfect flower or rarely 

 2-flowered: empty glumes ovate or nearly so, the first about 3 

 mm. long, 3-nerved, second slightly longer, 5-nerved; flowering 

 glume about 4 mm. long, ovate, obtuse, 7-nerved, often purplish; 

 palea nearly as long as its glume. 



Common on grassy slopes on the mesas and grassy hills. March-May. 



2. M. imperfecta flexuosa Boland. Much resembling the 

 type in habit and foliage, but the branches of the panicle few- 

 flowered, generally in pairs, often reflexed; spikelets larger, 

 acuter, paler and more coriaceous. 



Santa Monica Mountains, Davidson. 



3. M. imperfecta minor Scribn. Usually densely tufted ; 

 culms compressed or angular; leaves mostly basal ; branches of 



