Stenochloa. GRAMINE^E. 315 



sheaths bearing scattered rather long weak hairs : imperfectly dioecious ; panicle 

 varying from ovate, with solitary few-flowered spreading rays, to dense and capitate ; 

 spikelets linear-lanceolate, 1 - 40-flowered, from 2 lines to an inch long or more. 

 Agrost. Brasil. 514, and Fl. Bras, ii 2 , 148. Poa reptans, Michx. Flor. i. G9, t. 11. 

 P. hypnoides, Lam. 111. i. 185. P. capitata, Nutt. Flor. Ark. 146. 



Sacramento (Pickering) ; Oregon (Howell) ; common along rivers across the continent, extend- 

 ing to Mexico and South America. The branches are usually 2 to 5 inches high, but sometimes 

 much shorter and so densely Hovvered as to hide the foliage. 



2. E. poaeoid.es, Beauv. Culms diffusely spreading : branches ascending from 

 a geniculate base, 6 to 15 inches high : leaves fiat, mostly smooth ; sheaths with few 

 long spreading hairs : panicle narrow, crowded, with short spreading branches : 

 spikelets lance-linear or oblong-linear, 3 to 10 lines long, 8 - 20-nowered, often lead- 

 colored : lower palet obtuse, the lateral nerves greenish and prominent. Agrost. 

 t. 14, tig. 11. 



Var. megastachya, Gray. Sheaths mostly smooth : panicle often crowded ; 

 spikelets larger, becoming linear, sometimes nearly an inch long and whitish when 

 old, 10 - 50-flowered ; has an unpleasant odor. Man. 631. E. megastachya, Link. 

 Briza Eragrostis, Linn. 



San Francisco ; Monterey, Hacnkc. A native of Europe and introduced as a common weed in 

 nearly all parts of the Eastern States. So variable and changing so much with age that it is often 

 difficult to distinguish between the type and the variety. 



3. E. alba, Presl. Culms 12 to 18 inches high : leaves narrow, setaceously con- 

 volute at apex, the uppermost equalling the panicle : panicle 6 to 10 inches long, 

 included at base, dense and somewhat spike-like, the rays erect ; spikelets about 

 2 Hues long, on shorter pedicels, 5 - 1 5-flowered, pale straw-color : lower palet f line 

 long, rough on its prominent nerves, of which the middle one is excurrent as a minute 

 point. Eel. Ha3iik. i. 279; Thurber in Bot. Wilkes Exped. 489. 



Monterey (Haenke) ; Tulare Valley (Hccrmrmn) ; Kern River (Blake) ; Sacramento, Pickering. 

 Does not appear to have been met with by any of the collectors of the State Survey. All the 

 specimens, of different ages, are pale straw color throughout. The point of the lower palet is 

 present or wanting on the same specimen. 



52. STENOCHLOA, Nutt. 



Panicle narrow, somewhat spike-like. Spikelets small, 2 - 3-flowered, all fertile, 

 readily deciduous, the lowest with a brief callus, the others slightly separated by 

 joints of the smooth rhachis. Glumes herbaceous, narrow and acute, the lower 

 1-nerved, the upper 3-nerved and slightly the longer, both much exceeding the 

 florets. Lower palet ovate, obtusely keeled, indistinctly 5-nerved, the outer nerves 

 marginal, herbaceo-niembranaceous, with a brief scarious tip, pubescent especially on 

 the marginal nerves and keel, minutely punctulate. Upper palet narrow, strongly 

 2-carinate, nearly equalling the other. Stamens 3 ; anthers minute. Scales 2, very 

 small, obliquely truncate. Ovary short-stipitate : styles very slender, loosely plu- 

 mose nearly to the base. Grain somewhat triangular ; pericarp loose : embryo 

 minute. Low tufted annuals, with the florets somewhat like Poa and with exceed- 

 ingly long and narrow glumes. Plant. Gamb. 189. 



1. S. Californica, Nutt. 1. c. Culm from a few inches to a foot high and with 

 the strongly striate sheaths smooth : leaves about 2 inches long, flat or folded, acu- 

 minate-pointed, ciliate-scabrous on the margins ; ligule 1 line long, very thin and 

 lacerate : panicle about 2 inches long, loosely spike-like, its erect rays mostly in 

 pairs, densely many-flowered to the base ; spikelets barely a line and a half long, 

 very pale green : glumes spreading, with finely scabrous keels : lower palet f line 



