Vilfa. GRAMINEJE. 267 



14. COLEANTHUS, Seidel. SHEATH-FLOWERING GRASS. 



Panicle, like the whole plant, minute, simple or branched, the flowers in umbel- 

 late clusters of short 1 -flowered rays. Spikelets between one half and one line long. 

 Glumes none. Palets membranaceous, very unequal, the lower longer, 1-nerved, 

 acuminately awned ; the upper one-half shorter, with two divergent nerves, 2-keeled, 

 bifid at apex, the divisions acuminate. Scales none. Stamens 2 ; anthers oblong. 

 Ovary sessile, smooth : stigmas sessile, denticulate with subulate hairs. Grain 

 oblong, somewhat longer than the palets, which are persistent and surround its base, 

 the surface roughened with minute dots. 



The genus comprises but a single annual species, with flowers of exceedingly simple structure. 

 Trinius regarded the series of floral envelopes as glumes, and described a palet which others fail 

 to make out. 



1. C. subtilis, Seidel. Culms slender, forming loose tufts, 1 to 3 inches high, 

 decumbent at base, ascending, geniculate, often branched below : leaves about J inch 

 long and wide in proportion, curved, smooth ; ligule elongated, acute ; sheaths all 

 loose and dilated, scarious on the margins, the upper inflated : panicle | to 1 inches 

 long, its base included in the upper sheath, mostly simple with three or four umbel- 

 late clusters, sometimes with one or rarely two short branches, with an umbel at 

 the end ; pedicels longer than the spikelets, scabrous : palets roughened on the 

 keel. - Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. i. 61, t. 177. Schmidtia utriculosa, Sternb. ; 

 Nees, Gen. t. 27. 



Sauvies Island, Oregon, Howcll. This, which until Mr. Howell's discovery was only known 

 as a rare grass in northern Europe, is so very small that it may readily escape notice. It is to be 

 looked for along the muddy margins of rivers, especially in the northern part of the State. 



15. VILFA, Adans. RUSH-GRASS. 



Panicle narrow, dense and spike-like or sparsely flowered, sometimes included by 

 the upper sheath. Spikelets 1-flowered, membranaceo-chartaceous. Glumes 1-nerved, 

 not awned but sometimes pointed, the lower usually smaller. Floret sessile or with 

 a very minute callus, usually longer than the glumes. Palets similar in texture to 

 the glumes, mostly equal, the lower 1- or indistinctly 3-nerved, often obtuse, awn- 

 less, but sometimes terminated by a very short point or seta. Scales 2, small. 

 Stamens 3. Ovary oblong : stigmas with simple hairs. Grain oblong or cylin- 

 drical. 



Perennials and annuals, with mostly wiry culms and involute leaves, the sheaths of which are 

 sometimes fringed at the throat. The species are widely distributed ; three or four occur in the 

 Atlantic States. See note to Sporobolus. 



1. V. depauperata, Torr. Culms tufted, very slender, 3 inches to 2 feet long, 

 decumbent and geniculate, often much branched : leaves from 3 to 12 lines long, 

 often involute, very minutely scabrous on the upper surface ; ligule elongated, acute ; 

 sheaths rather loose, crowded and overlapping below : panicle ^ to 2 inches long, 

 very narrow, of few solitary distant erect rays, which are branched and flower-bearing 

 nearly to the base : spikelets a line long or less, short-pedicelled : glumes ovate, 

 obtuse, nearly equal : floret about twice the length of the glumes, often blackish, 

 deciduous : palets nearly equal, the lower obscurely 3-nerved, the midnerve often 

 terminating as a minute mucro. Hook. Flor. Bor.-Am. ii. 257, t. 236 ; Watson, 

 Bot. King Exp. 376. V. utilis, Torr. in Pacif. R Rep. v. 365. 



High Sierras (Brewer) ; Yosemite Valley (Bolandcr) ; Tejon Pass (Blake) ; Hermit Valley, 

 Hooker and Gray, and other mountain localities by Lemrnon and others. Ranging from Oregon 

 (Hall) to Colorado and the Saskatchewan, and southward to Northern Mexico and Western 



