296 GRAMINEJ5. Trisetum. 



Mendocino County (Bolander, u. 6122) ; Oregon (Pickeriuy) ; also Sitka. Tlie conspicuous in- 

 equality of the glumes, and the long capillary branches of the panicle, which are naked below, dis- 

 tinguish it from the next, which has been confounded with it. 



2. T. canescens, Buckl. Culms 2 to 4 feet high, the flat leaves and sheaths 

 smooth or pubescent : panicle 6 to 12 inches long, narrow, somewhat crowded with 

 suberect branches, flower-bearing below the middle or to the base ; spikelets 2-3- 

 flowered, narrow : lower glume narrow, acute, about one-fourth shorter than the 

 broad ovate-lanceolate upper one : lower palet about 4 lines long, narrow, tuberculate- 

 roughened, long subulate pointed, the awn stout and about twice its length. 

 Proc. Acad. Philad. 1862, 100 ; Gray in same, 337. T. elatum, Nutt. in Herb. 

 Acad. Philad. ; Boland. Cat. 34. 



San Francisco and elsewhere, Bolander, n. 4744, 4758, 6077, 6122. Varies in the width of the 

 leaves and density of the panicle, which is often purple-tinged. Some specimens have the leaves 

 more or less haiiy and the sheaths retrorsely pilose, which is the typical form collected by Nut- 

 tall and described by Buckley. In some of Mr. Bolander's earlier distributions this was sent out 

 as T. cernuum, Trin. 



3. T. barbatum, Steud. Culm geniculate below and sometimes branched, 

 1 or 2 feet high, the lanceolate leaves 3 or 4 inches long, flat and with the sheaths 

 pilose : panicle 3 to 6 inches long, the lower rays slender, suberect, few-flowered, the 

 upper short, 1-flowered ; spikelets large, 6 to 9 lines long, 3 - 5-flowered, much flat- 

 tened : glumes narrow, hairy on the keel, acute, the upper somewhat longer, 3-nerved 

 and nearly equalling the floret ; joints of rhachis short, nearly smooth : lower palet 

 6 lines long, hirsute all over, the subulate teeth 3 or 4 lines long, the stout awn 

 about as long as the palet and twisted below ; upper palet about equalling the lower, 

 hairy on the nerves : ovary elongated, not so copiously hairy as in the other two 

 species, but distinctly so. Syn. Gram. 229. 



San Francisco, Oakland, and elsewhere (Bolander, n. 1551, 6128) ; collected also on the Ives 

 Colorado Expedition. With the exception of being hairy the specimens agree well with Steudel's 

 description, drawn from Chilian specimens. It is much the largest-flowered species, with the 

 appearance of a Bromus. 



* * Panicle dense and spike-like : ovary smooth. 



4. T. subspicatum, Beauv. Culms tufted, perennial, 4 inches to 2 feet high, 

 smooth or downy : leaves flat and smooth or with the loose sheaths pubescent ; ligule 

 long : panicle 2 to 6 inches long, dense and oblong-ovate, or elongated and several 

 times interrupted below, shining and more or less purplish ; spikelets flat, 2-3- 

 flowered : lower glume shorter, the upper about equalling the florets, both ciliate on 

 the keel ; lower palet 3 lines long, smooth or minutely scabrous, the divergent awn 

 about its own length. Kunth, Enum. i. 295, and Suppl. 248 ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 

 225. T. airoides, Roeni. & Schult. ; Trin. in Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1831, 64. 



Var. molle, Gray. Culm and foliage minutely soft-downy. Man. 641, t. 12. 

 T. molle, Trin. 1. c. ; Torr. FL N. York, ii. 452, t. 154. Avena mollis, Michx. 



Var. muticum, Bolander, in herb. Panicle elongated and interrupted below ; 

 the florets awnless or very short-awned. 



On the Upper Tuolumne (Bolander, n. 5019, var. muticum), and in the high Sierras at 9,000 

 to 11,000 feet altitude, Brewer, n. 1947, 2002 (var. molle), 2044. From New England westward 

 along the Lakes, in the higher mountains from Colorado to California, and northward to the 

 Arctic Ocean. The specimens from the higher localities are only alxmt 4 inches high with very 

 dense ovate spikes. In var. muticum the lower palet is sometimes entire as well as awnless, 

 but neither character is constant. 



35. AIRA, Linn. HAIR-GRASS. 



Panicle loose (rarely contracted), open, with slender mostly capillary branches. 

 Spikelets small, with two perfect flowers, the upper somewhat distant upon the 

 rhachis, often with a pedicel or rudiment of a third flower. Glumes thin, mem- 

 branaceous, 1-nerved, acute, equalling or exceeding the florets. Lower palet thin 



