Glyceria. GKAMINE^E. ~ 307 



palet rough on the green portions, the appendage to the keels with one prominent 

 acute tooth and several irregular smaller ones. Hook. & Am. But. Beechey, 403, 

 t. 95; Bolander, Trans. Calif. Agric. Soc. 1864 65, 140. Lepitoma brevifolia, 

 Torr. Ms., and Pleuropogon Douglasii, Trin. Ms. ; Steud. Gram. 292. 



Oakland, Santa Rosa Valley, Ukiah (Bolander, n. 1545, 6075) ; Walnut Creek (Brewer, n. 1043), 

 in wet meadows. Steins very weak, the foliage, etc., pale greenish yellow ; spikelets often pur- 

 plish. When young the glumes and tips of the palets, in the dried plant, shine with a silvery 

 lustre, adding much to the beauty of the specimens. Mr. Bolander states that animals are very 

 fond of it, and he regards it as the only certainly indigenous grass deserving the attention of agri- 

 culturists. 



2. L. refracta, Gray. More robust than the preceding, culms 3 to 4 feet high : 

 lower leaves 8 to 10, the uppermost 1 or 2 inches long, 3 to 4 lines wide : axis of 

 raceme very slender ; spikelets refracted by the curving of the pedicels, 1 to 1 ^ inches 

 long, more loosely flowered than in the preceding : lower palet 4 lines long, barely 

 scabrous, more or less truncate (but not 2-lobed) and erose-toothed at apex ; awn 

 about 3 lines long ; appendage to upper palet with but a single blunt tooth on each 

 side. Proc. Amer. Acad. viii. 409. 



Oregon, E. Hall. Plant much larger than any form of the foregoing, with the foliage much 

 darker green, though the spikelets are similarly pale. Should be looked for in the northern part 

 of the State. 



48. GLYCERIA, R. Br. MANNA-GRASS. 



Panicle loose, sometimes narrow, often secimd, the rays semi-verticillate. Spike- 

 lets 3 - many-flowered, terete or somewhat flattened, the florets mostly early decid- 

 uous by the breaking up of the jointed rhachis. Glumes membranaceous, persistent, 



1 3-nerved, unequal, unawned, shorter than the florets. Lower palet becoming 

 somewhat cartilaginous, rounded on the back, smooth, the 5 to 7 parallel nerves 

 not reaching the obtuse (rarely acute) scarious and sometimes obscurely-toothed apex. 

 Upper palet about equalling the other, ciliate on the nerves, entire or bifid. Stamens 



2 or 3. Scales 2, sometimes connate, fleshy, truncate. Ovary smooth. Styles 2, 

 short, the stigmas plumose with much branched hairs. Grain oblong, smooth, in- 

 closed in the palets but free from them. Perennial smooth marsh grasses, mostly 

 with creeping rootstocks and generally with closed sheaths. 



A genus belonging mostly to temperate and cold climates ; the numlxjr of species estimated at 

 20. Retained by some botanists with Poa, from which it mainly differs in its rounded smooth 

 lower palet and its deciduous florets. 



l.'Gr. fluitans, R. Br. Culms 2 to 5 feet high from a widely creeping root- 

 stock, flattened : leaves often floating, 2 to 4 lines wide and with tbe sheaths 

 mostly smooth : panicle 1 to 2 feet long, spreading or generally the few long erect 

 rays racemose, with few spikelets ; spikelets ^ to 1 inch long, terete (except when 

 flowering), erect, those on the rays mostly short-pedicelled, 7 - 20-flowered : glumes 

 green-keeled, otherwise hyaline and nerveless, the larger upper one eroded at tip, 

 more than half as long as its floret : lower palet 1 to 2 lines long, 7-nerved, slightly 

 scabrous, its broadly scarious subacute tip entire or obscurely 3-lobed ; upper palet 

 2-toothed, slightly shorter or sometimes a little longer : scales united and fleshy. 

 Festuca Jiiiitans, Linn. Poa fluitans, Scopoli. 



Sierra Nevada (Lcmmon, Mrs. R. M. Austin); Oregon (Hall); Europe, Asia, Africa and Aus- 

 tralia. Found in shallow water in ponds and ditches, its leaves often floating, usually very pale 

 green with the spikelets sometimes purple-tipped. 



2. Gr. nervata, Trin. Culms 2 to 4 feet high : leaves variable, often ample, 

 sometimes 12 to 15 inches long and 4 to 6 lines wide, usually roughish above, as 

 are the closed sheaths : panicle 4 to 8 inches long, its flexuose capillary rays in twos 

 or threes, erect when young, soon diffusely spreading and pendulous ; spikelets ovate- 



