Distichlis. GRAMINE^E. 305 



this has a longer looser spikelet with the narrower and acuter glumes much shorter in proportion 

 to the florets, and the palet also more acute, while M. Harfordii has the lower palet ciliate, and 

 M. aristata a longer awn and the palet blunter and more broadly scarious. 



G. M. Harfordii, Boland. Culms subgeniculate at one or two of the lower 

 nodes, which are somewhat swollen : leaves glaucous, smooth, or scabrous above, 

 long-acuminate, the uppermost 6 inches long, about 2 lines wide, auriculate and 

 cartilaginous at the union with the sheath, where they are often strongly ciliate : 

 panicle very pale, narrow ; spikelets 6 to 8 lines long, 4 - 8-flowered : lower palet 4 

 lines long, strongly scabrous-pubescent, and ciliate with long shining hairs for two- 

 thirds of the margin below ; midnerve merely reaching the truncate notched nar- 

 rowly-scarious often bih'd apex, or excurrent just below it as a point or as a distinct 

 awn a line or more long ; upper palet about one-fourth shorter, finely ciliate on its 

 strong nerves and scabrous between them. Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 102. 



In the Coast Ranges (Redwoods, Mattole River, Bolander) and in the Sierra Nevada, Bolander, 

 Lemmon. The slender and rigid culms for 2 or 3 inches of the base are clothed with scarious often 

 dark purple sheaths. The height (3 to 6 feet) as given in Bolander's description is probably a 

 typographical error. Lemmon's specimens, with nearly muticous spikelets, show that characters 

 in this genus drawn from the awn are not very constant. The long hairs on the margins of the 

 lower palet readily distinguish this from any awnless form of the next. 



7. M. aristata, Thurber. Culms more leafy than in the preceding: leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, the lower 4 inches long and 3 lines wide, the uppermost half as 

 long, auriculate and cartilaginous at base : spikelets pale or purple, perfect florets 

 mostly 3 : lower palet 5 lines long, with a few stiff marginal hairs near the base, 

 very scabrous, the central nerve excurrent just below the bifid tip as an awn 3 to 5 

 lines long, one at least of the other nerves nearly reaching the tips of the lobes ; 

 upper palet one-fourth shorter, strongly ciliate at top and a short distance below : 

 imperfect floret usually awned. Bolauder, Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 103. 



In the Sierra Nevada, Hillcbrand, Bofander, n. 4861. With a similar general appearance to 

 the preceding, this has much shorter and broader leaves and a fewer-flowered panicle ; the awn 

 appeai-s to be constant. Should awnless forms occur, the absence of the conspicuous line of hairs 

 on the margins of the lower palet will distinguish it. Sheaths at base dark purple. 



8. M. acuminata, Bolander. Root tuberous : leaves 5 to 6 lines wide at base 

 and long acuminate, the upper very narrow, scabrous ; ligule a coarse fringe : capil- 

 lary pedicels with a small unequal callus-like swelling just below the elongated 

 loosely flowered spikelets ; perfect florets about 5, distant upon the flexuose rhachis : 

 glumes very acute, scabrous on the keel and minutely ciliate toward the apex, the 

 upper not one-fourth as long as the lower floret : lower palet 6 lines long, attenuate 

 into a narrow setiform point, with a very narrow ciliate margin, hirsute especially 

 below with scattered hairs ; upper palet about half the length of the other, densely 

 ciliate for its upper half and at the narrowly truncate tip. Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 

 104. Festuca subulata, Bong. Veg. Sitch. 173. Bromus subulatus, Griseb. in Ledeb. 

 Fl. Ross. iv. 358 ; Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. viii. 410. M. poceoides, var. acuminata, 

 of Bolander's distribution, n. 4698. 



Redwoods, Mendocino County (Bolander) ; Oregon (Hall), and northward to Alaska. 



46. DISTICHLIS, Raf. SPIKE-GRASS. 



Panicle densely spiked. Spikelets dioecious, many-flowered, compressed, short- 

 pedicelled. Glumes herbaceous or membranous, narrow, keeled, faintly many-nerved. 

 Lower palet somewhat coriaceous, indistinctly many-nerved, acute. Upper palet 

 with infolded margins, and prominent or narrowly winged keel. Stamens 3. Scales 

 broad. Ovary smooth, stalked, tapering upward : styles very long with stigmas 

 exserted from top of palet. Grain obovoid, free, with a thick spongy pericarp. 

 Perennials with widely creeping rootstocks and short culms clothed to the top with 



