300 GRAMINE^E. Phragmites. 



1. P. communis, Trin. A tall perennial, with extensively creeping jointed 

 rootstocks, and stout culms 5 to 12 feet high, clothed to the panicle with ample 

 leaves, which are glaucous beneath, rough on the margins and 1 or 2 inches wide : 

 panicle 10 to 18 inches long, loose and nodding, usually purple; spikelets 6 to 9 

 lines long, the upper joint of the rhachis bearing a rudimentary palet or a mere 

 point : the very narrow tip of the lower palet sometimes twisted : the silky hairs of 

 the rhachis lengthen as the seed ripens, becoming very conspicuous. Fund. Agrost. 

 134; Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. t. 185; Nees, Gen. t. 37. Arundo Phragmites, 

 Linn. 



San Francisco and elsewhere common ; extends throughout North America. The common 

 Reed is found in nearly every part of the world ; growing in wet places, especially along the mar- 



fins of rivers, its creeping rootstocks are of service in preventing the washing away of the banks, 

 ts young shoots are eaten by cattle, and its mature stems are useful for many purposes, espe- 

 cially as thatching material, it being said to outlast all others. From its stately habit, it is 

 often planted for ornament, as are the closely related Arundo Donax and Gynerium argenteum, 

 the " Pampas-Grass." 



40. EBEMOCHLOE, Watson. DESERT-GRASS. 



Panicle short and contracted, simple or nearly so. Spikelets 4-flowered, the lower 

 two florets neutral, the uppermost reduced to a stipitate villous triple awn. Glumes 

 membranous, keeled, 1 -nerved, acute, glabrous, rather exceeding the flowers, the 

 lower a little the shorter. Palets membranous, the lower 2-cleft to the middle, 

 3-nerved, the strongly villous nerves produced as awns, the middle one longest and 

 between the lobes, which in the neutral florets are obtuse and in the perfect floret 

 attenuate. Upper palet shorter, bicarinate, 2-nerved, 2-lobed or 2-toothed at the 

 apex, imperfectly developed in the neutral florets. Stamens 2. Styles 2, the elon- 

 gated stigmas very minutely hairy. Grain free, sessile, obovate, smooth. Bot. 

 King Exped. 382, t. 40. 



Low biennial desert grasses with fibrous roots, the sheaths bearded at the throat and often cili- 

 ate, the leaves short, rigid, revolute-setaceous, striate and pungent. Only two species are thus 

 far known, one of which, first discovered in Nevada, seems likely to occur within the State. 

 The second species (E. Bigelovii, Watson) is confined to the Hio Grande region. 



1. E. Kingii, Watson, 1. c. Very low and tufted, 1 to 3 inches high, nearly gla- 

 brous ; sheaths ciliate, dilated ; leaves 6 to 9 lines long : panicle short, spicate, 

 usually sheathed at base ; spikelets few : glumes 3 \ lines long, acuminate, purplish : 

 lower palet of the nearly sessile florets 2 lines long, very villous at base, lobes 

 rounded at the apex, lateral nerves marginal and but very shortly produced : upper 

 palets one-half shorter, oblanceolate, acutely 2-lobed at the apex, the nerves obscure, 

 marginal, and slightly ciliate ; the palet of the lower florets the larger : lower palet 

 of the perfect floret similar, but naked at base, the lateral lobes narrower and attenu- 

 ate upward, the middle awn somewhat margined above the sinus ; upper palet ovate, 

 2-lobed at the apex, the lobes rounded and irregularly short-serrate. 



Nevada, on dry barren foot-hills of Trinity Mountains, Watson, Dr. Torrcy. This has so much 

 the aspect of Tricuspis pulchella, Ton 1 ., of Arizona and New Mexico, that it may be passed over 

 for that species in localities where it grows. 



41. TRICUSPIS, Beauv. 



Panicle compound, often reduced to a simple few-flowered raceme. Spikelets 

 3- 12-flowered, the uppermost floret imperfect or abortive; florets separated by the 

 short joints of the rhachis, which are bearded throughout or just below the florets. 

 Glumes membranous, 1 -nerved. Palets membranous, the lower convex, 2-cleft, 

 3-nerved, conspicuously bearded on the nerves, the lateral nerves marginal or nearly 



