Agrostis. GRAMINE^E. 273 



glumes acute, the lower a little longer and aculeate-roughened for the whole length 

 of its midnerve, while the upper is only so at the tip : floret but little shorter than 

 the glumes ; lower palet 5-nerved, entire and somewhat truncate at apex, the upper 

 hyaline, exceedingly minute. Agrost. ii. 83. 



Collected by JBolander, but no locality given ; also by Lemmon in the Sierra Nevada. The 

 original specimens were from Nutka Sound. This is referred as above from the description only. 

 The pale rather rigid foliage and culms, and the long narrow open panicle give it a distinct 

 appearance. 



6. A. exarata, Triii. Culm erect, 1 or 2 feet high or more, from a perennial (or 

 annual 1 ?) root, at length naked for some distance below the panicle : leaves mostly 

 erect and flat, 1 to 3 lines broad, the radical 2 to 4 and those of the culm -6 inches 

 long or more, roughish or very rough ; ligule obtuse, more or less decurrent ; sheaths 

 longer than the internodes, usually smooth : panicle erect, rather narrow, dense to 

 very dense and crowded and somewhat lobed, pale greenish, rarely tinged with pur- 

 ple; rays 3 to 5, semiverticillate, rough, mostly flower-bearing to the base : spikelets 

 1^ to 2 lines long: glumes nearly equal, the lower a little longer, toothed on the 

 keel, acute : lower palet J or ^ shorter than the glume, somewhat acute, 4 5-nerved 

 and marked on the back by a longitudinal furrow, sometimes awned above the mid- 

 dle ; upper palet usually shorter than the ovary, sometimes longer : stamens 3 ; 

 anthers oblong. Gram. Spec, i, t. 27, and Agrost. ii. 87. A. albicans, Buckl. 

 Proc. Acad. Philad. 1862, 91. Polypogon alopecuroides, Buckl. 1. c. 88. 



Occurs in its various forms in all the collections made in the State, ranging from Sitka to Cali- 

 fornia and eastward to Colorado and New Mexico. No other grass found upon the coast presents 

 such a variety of puzzling disguises as this. Specimens from wet grounds are 3 or 4 feet high, 

 while those from dry mountain sides are only as many inches. The panicle, sometimes nearly a 

 foot long, is usually very dense, but in some specimens the rays are spreading, and it is not rare 

 to find it interrupted below. The leaves, usually flat, are in dry mountain localities narrow and 

 involute, and vary strikingly in their roughness. The usually pale green of the panicle, with a 

 slightly satiny lustre, has sometimes a strong purplish tinge. The presence of awns is more com- 

 mon in the dwarf forms, though not confined to them, and the larger upper palet does not appear 

 to be associated with any other character. The specific name was given with reference to a slight 

 groove upon the back of the lower palet, but it is far from constant, and the palet often has five 

 nerves. Mr. Bolander states, in the Transactions of the State Agricultural Society for 1864-65, 

 that the root is annual, but in some of the specimens it has every appearance of being perennial. 

 The following, described as species, are apparently forms of A. exarata : 



A. grandis, Trin. (Agrost. ii. 70), described from a very large panicle only. 



A. asperifolia, Trin. (1. c. 71), with exceedingly rough leaves. The specimens referred to this 

 have very broad as well as narrow leaves, and have the awn present or absent ; there are a few 

 very minute hairs at the base of the floret. 



A. pallens, Trin. (1. c. 82), is a strict form with usually narrow and sometimes involute leaves, 

 and a rather loose panicle, which is very pale with little trace of green, but specimens occur 

 like it in all respects except in having the panicle strongly tinged with purple. 



A. Californica, Trin. (1. c. 113), maybe a form of this; at least the specimens which Mr. 

 Bolander thought might belong to this species are A. exarata with a much interrupted panicle. 



A. microphyl.la, Steud. (Torr. in Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 154 ; A. exarata, var., Watson, Bot. 

 King Exp. 377), is a small long-awned form, which we should hesitate to refer to A. exarata had 

 not Mr. Bolander traced it in the living plant from 3 to 6 inches high, through a regular series, 

 up to the large awned specimens that undoubtedly belong there. 



-i- +- -i- Upper palet entirely wanting, or present as a barely manifest hyaline 

 scale. TRICHODIUM. (Trichodium, Michx.) 



H- Spikelets awnless. 



7. A. varians, Trin. Culm slender, erect, from a fibrous (perennial 1 ?) root, 

 smooth, 3 to 6 inches high : leaves very narrow, often involute, slightly scabrous 

 above, the uppermost on the culm about an inch long ; upper ligule about | line 

 long, acutish ; sheaths longer than the internodes : panicle 1 to 2 inches long, 

 blackish purple, the rays an inch long, erect or somewhat spreading : spikelets a line 

 long or less : glumes nearly equal, roughish on the keel toward the apex : floret a 

 little shorter than the glumes. Agrost. ii. 68. 



