320 GRAMINE^E. Uromus. 



the brandies in threes to fives and spreading even in fruit ; spikelets oblong-ovate, 

 turgid, 4 to 8 lines long, 5 - 10-flowered, the florets rather distant: lower palet 

 7-9-nerved, at length coriaceous, notched at apex, scabrous, awnless or with a 

 variable awn less than its own length. Torr. Fl. N. York, ii. 467, t. 157. 



Plumas County, Mrs. Austin. Found wherever grain is cultivated ; the belief that this, known 

 as "Chess" or "Cheat," is the result of the degeneration of wheat, has been very prevalent and 

 is still held by the ignorant. 



4. B. racemosus, Linn. Culms 1 to 3 feet high : leaves and sheaths smooth 

 or pubescent : panicle narrow, with branches in threes to fives, contracted in fruit ; 

 spikelets 6 to 9 lines long, 6- 10-flowered, the florets closely imbricated, scabrous : 

 lower palet 7 - 9-nerved, widest above the middle, bluntly angled on the margins 

 and bihd above, decidedly exceeding the upper palet, with an awn of its own length. 

 Eeichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. t. 143. 



San Francisco, Bolander. The specimens have the leaves and especially the sheaths strongly 

 pubescent, in which it is like B. mollis, Linn., which is likely to be found in grain-fields, and 

 may be known by having the spikelets also downy. Some European botanists regard this species, 

 B. mollis and B. secalinus, all as varieties of B. arvensis. 



* * * Panicle with slender elongated drooping branches : florets soon separating 

 from each other: lower glume 1-nerved, upper 3-nerved, or with an obscure 

 additional pair. Indigenous perennials. 



5. B. ciliatus, Linn. Culms from 3 to 5 feet high : leaves long-pointed from 

 a broad base, sometimes 6 lines wide, somewhat auriculate at the throat, smooth or 

 densely pubescent, as are the sheaths ; ligule short, usually a mere band : panicle 

 compound and very loose with elongated few-flowered rays, or narrow with short 

 mostly erect branches ; spikelets about aii inch long, 7 1 2-flowered : glumes acute, 

 the upper more than half the length of the lowest floret : lower palet 6 to 8 lines 

 long, 7-nerved, the central and two other nerves stronger and longer than the others, 

 silky with appressed hairs near the margins, minutely hairy all over, or with a few 

 long hairs on the nerves below or at the base ; awn one-fourth or three-fourths its 

 length. Gray, Man. 635. B. purgans, Linn. ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 252, in part. 

 B. Canadensis, Michx. B. pubescens, Muhl. 



San Juan and Silver Mountain Trail, at 8-9,000 feet altitude (Brewer); Calaveras Grove 

 (Hillebrand) ; near San Francisco, Bolander. The specimens show as many marked forms as 

 there are localities, from perfectly smooth to densely velvety pubescent sheaths and flowers, and 

 especially variable in the character of the panicle. The ovary in all is remarkably long-hairy at 

 the top, while the styles are deflexed. The stiff white hairs extend a fourth of a line beyond the 

 top of the ovary, forming a dense brush which is filled with pollen-grains ; it would appear that 

 these hairs serve as collectors of pollen, to be probably afterwards of service in some way in fer- 

 tilization. 



6. B. depauperatus, Presl. Root-fibres tomentose ; culms 2 or 3 feet high, 

 stout below : the convolute-setaceous root-leaves half as tall ; culm leaves 3, distant, 

 the uppermost 3 to 6 inches long, flat at least at base, scabrous ; ligule a narrow line ; 

 sheath auricled and hairy at throat : panicle very lax and open, the long spreading 

 capillary rays in twos, rarely in threes, few-flowered above the middle ; spikelet 

 5 or 6 lines long, lanceolate ; florets 3 or 4, distant : glumes thin and hyaline : lower 

 palet lanceolate, soon terete, membranous, strongly scabrous, 5-nerved, barely scari- 

 ous at the acute tip, awn one-fourth to a half as long ; upper palet distinctly longer 

 than the lower, scabrous above and finely ciliate : anthers very large. Rel. Hamk. 

 i. 263; Steud. Syn. Gram. 319. 



Geysers and Pine Mountain (Bolander) ; Nutka Sound, Haerikc. This agrees well, save in size, 

 with Presl's description of Haenke's plant. The spikelets at first, with the florets flattened on 

 the back, have the appearance common to the genus, but after they spread each floret becomes 

 cylindrical and the spikelet is much like that of a Festuca. The anthers are very large and the 

 ovary appears as if abortive, there being but little save the hairy crown. The plant is throughout 

 of a very pale straw-color. It appears to have been met with only by Mr. Bolander. 



