2Qg ORAMINE.E. Vilfa. 



Texas. A peienuiiil species, varying so greatly with tlie locality that it is not praLtirahle to indi- 

 cate any well-ildiueit varieties. Specimens IVoni the high Sierras are very dwarf, with capillary 

 culins ; those collected at Tcjon Pass l.y Mr. I51ake are like lho.se IVoni Northern Mexico, a tangled 

 mass of long llexuose lilirorui and very tongh culms. This appears to he the form assumed hy 

 the plant in"the southern localities, where it is much sought after hy the Mexicans, who use it for 

 stuffinf their large leathern iiparejas, or pack-saddles, a purpose to which its toughness and elas- 

 ticity especially ;"lapt it. It was this use of it which led Dr. Torrey to give the name T. utilis. 



2. V. gracillima. Culms annual, capillary, smooth, much branched at base, 

 forming siiiiiU iUmlsu tufts, 3 to 12 but usually about 6 inches high, the leafy por- 

 tion about 2 inches high : leaves 6 to 9 lines long and less than a line broad, Hat, 

 involute at apex, very minutely scabrous on the upper side and margins ; ligtde 

 about a line long, obtuse and lacerate, decurrent ; sheaths equalling the internodes, 

 loose, striate, smooth with hyaline margins : panicle long-exserted, narrowly linear, 

 few-tlowered, interrupted below ; rays in pairs or threes, erect, appressed, 1 - 3-llow- 

 ered : spikelets about a line long, on shorter i)edicels : glumes subequal, or the 

 upper larger, membranaceous, colorless, very obtuse, distinctly 1-nervetl, mucronate 

 or erose-toothed at apex, about half as long as the oblong-lanceolate floret, which has 

 a small callus : palets about equal, blackish, the lower 3-nerved, with a few very 

 minute hairs on the nerves below, mucronate or tipped with a small s('ta. 



In the Sierra Nevada, in wet .soil, at 11,000 f.rt altitude (llrewn) ; Yosianite Valley (lUnithr) ; 

 also collected hy Mrs. Anslia and Lcminmi, and near Santa IJarl.ara l.y Mrs. <'o„prr: Oregon, 

 //<(//. This occurs in dense nm.vs-like tufls 'J (.r a in. lies aen.ss, the hriglit green hdiage l.cing 

 ahout two inches high ; ahove this the n\inier.Mis dcpau|terate panicles are horno l.y wiry shining 

 naked culms, .scarcely larger than a horse-hair. At lirsl taken for a variety of T. dcpaiipcradi, 

 Torr., but its habit and annual root abundantly distingui'.h it from any of the many forms of that 

 species ; with F. citspiditfa, Torr., and one or two other species, it ajiproaches closely to Mahlai- 

 beryia. 



16. SPOROBOLUS, H. Br. Diioi-sEEn f;ii.\.ss. 



Panicle usually open and pyramidal, sometimes contracted with erect rays. Spike- 

 lets 1-flowered. Glumes chartaceo-membranaceous, 1-nerved or nerveless, mostly 

 obtuse, awnless, the lower one smaller. Floret without callus and longer than the 

 glumes. Palets similar in texture to the glumes. Scales 2. Stamens 2 or 3. 

 Grain globular, the seed loose within the usually hyaline pericarp, which ultimately 

 bursts and allows it to fall away. 



Annuals and perennials, widely distributed ; there are 7 species in the Atlantic States. There 

 is much confusion in dilferent works as to Sporobulus and I'Ufx, some authors adopting the one 

 or the other name, according to their views of priority, and not admitting that there are two 

 genera. Dr. Gray long ago (Manual) adopted the free or adherent .seed as a sullicient generic dis- 

 tinction, placing thd.sc" species having a spiked panicle and the fruitatiue oiri/o/isis, the sce.l 

 iulherent to the pericarp, in n/jn, while those with the generally open panicle and the fruit u 

 nlricle, i. e. the seed free from the (usually) hyaline pericarp, are included ui Sjiuruholtts.^ 'J'liis 

 arrangement is f(.llo\ved here. The j.ericari) usually bursts spontaneously when <piito ripe ; in 

 immature specimens a brief soaking of the fruit in water will cause the separation to take place. 



* Spikelets a I hie long : glumes very xineqiial 



1. S. cryptandrus, Gray. Culms 2 or 3 feet high, usually geniculate and 

 branched below : leaves flat, about 2 lines wide, acuminate, scabrous especially 

 above ; ligule a mere fringe ; sheaths smooth, strongly bearded at throat, the lower 

 shorter than the internodes : panicle narrowly i.yramidal, more or less inclosed by 

 the upper sheath, 4 to 8 inches long, its rays mo.stly in pair.s, spreading, lluwer- 

 bearing to the base and sometimes hairy in the axils : spikidets 1 line long, short- 

 pedicefled, ratlier crowded, lead-colored : glumes somewhat acute, the njiper twice 

 the length of the very narrow lower one : floret e(iualling the upper glume. — JNIanual, 

 2 ed. 5-12 (5 ed. GIO). A(jros(is cri/ptamlm, Torr. in Ann. Lye. N. York, i. ITil. 

 Vilfa cri/ptandra, Trin. Agrost. i. 47; Steud. Syn. Gram. 150; Watson, Bot. King 

 Exp. 375. 



