Calaimujrostis. GllAMINE.E. 279 



riiiliinent of a second lloret. Sonu! botanists give this section the rank of a genus, leaving in 

 CdhnninjroHlis only the speeies in which the rudiment is lacking. \Vliih> none of the species are 

 cultivated as pasture or meadow grasses, C. Cdnadoisis is of considerable agricultural importance, 

 as it forms a large share of the " wild hay" cut ui)on the western i)rairies. (J. arcnuria, Roth, 

 witli very large (\ inch) spikelets crowded in a dense cylindrical spike, though abundant upon 

 both sliores of the Atlantic, does not appear to have been fouiul upon the western coast. In some 

 parts of Europe and on the New England coast, it has been planted to restrain blowing sands, its 

 tough rootstocks extending for 20 or 30 feet and binding the sand very elfectively. It is a coarse 

 rigi<l grass and distasteful to cattle except when very young. Some European botanists refer it 

 to P.minma, Beau v., and others to Avimophiht, Host. 



Panicle loose and open, tlie spikelets mostly tinged with purple. 



Hairs of the hyaline lower palet copious, aboiit equalling it or some- 

 times a little shorter. 

 Spikelets less than 2 lines long. 1. C. Canadensis. 



Spikelets 2 lines long or more. 2. C. Langsdoufkii. 



Hairs copious and one-third to one-half shorter than the palet. 3. C. desciiami'sioidk.s. 



Hairs .scanty, less thail one-fourtii tlie length of the palet. 



riant tall (2 to 3 feet). I^eaves ample and Hat. 4. C. Bi)i,AM)i:ur. 



riant dwarf (6 to 15 inches). Leaves convolute-setaceous. 5. C. Buicwkiu. 



I'anich- strict and narrow, its short branches erect and appressed after 

 flowering : lower jialet membranaceous, sometimes of similar 

 texture to the glumes. 

 Hairs at base of the lloret nearly e(iualling or about one-third siiorter 

 than the palet and exceeded by those of the rudiment. 

 Spikelets 2 to 2^ lines long. Glumes very tliick. 6. C. ckassiglumis. 



Spikelets 1^ lines long. 7. U. stkicta. 



Hairs short, barely half as long as the palet. 



Awn from below tin; middle of the palet and but little exceeding it. 8. ('. Alf.UTIga. 

 Awn from near the ba.se of the palet and long-exserted. 9. ('. sylvatica. 



* Pdnlclc lonse and open, mostly t'lnyed with 2)U7'j)le. 



1. C. Canadensis, IJeauv. Culms tall, (uect, sinootli, 3 to 5 feot high, rarely 

 branching below : leavL-s about a foot long, 2 to 4 lines wide, flat, minutely scabrous : 

 ligule short, lacerate ; slieaths closely appressed, shorter than the internodes, smooth 

 or slightly roughened : panicle 4 to G inches long, oblong, the common axis and rays 

 scabrous: spikelets from Ij to If lines long: glumes lanceolate, acute: lower palet 

 nearly as long, obtuse and more or less 2-toothed at the apex, surrounded by copious 

 white hairs, and awned on the back from near the middle with a very delicate bristle 

 not much stouter than the hairs, and usually barely eipialling or rarely slightly ex- 

 ceeding the pah'-t ; upper jvdiit a little shorter : rudiment very miinite. — Torrey, l'"l. 

 N. York, ii. 444, t. 150; Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. iv. 77, and Man. G15, t. 8. 

 Arundo Conaden.tix, Michx. V\. i. 73. C. Mexicana, Nutt. (Jen. i. 4r), excl. syn. 

 Pers. Cinna (?) Fiirxhii, Kunth, Einim. i. 208. 



Moist places, mostly in the Sierra Nevada (Hillr.hrnnd, Bolandcr), to Oregon {Hninell), and 

 British Columbia, and from subarctic America to Pennsylvania an<l New Mexico. In the older 

 States, where this gi-a-ss is abundant, it is known by the not very flescriptive name of " Blue 

 Joint," and is regaided as a valuable meadow grass, though it is encouraged rather than culti- 

 vated. By some the hay is considered nearly as nutritious as that from Timothy {Phhum prutensc). 

 Large quantities are cut on the prairies, it yielding in rich soil very heavy crops. 



2. C. Langsdor£Eii, Trin. Culm, leaves and panicle as in C. Canadensis : spike- 

 lets 2 to 3 lines long : glumes lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, atteiuiate-acuminate, 

 often cinereously strigose-pubescent : awn stouter than in the preceding and often 

 slightly exceeding the palet. — dram. Uni-Se.squitl. 225 ; Oray, Proc. Amer. Acad, 

 iv. 77. C. Orefjonensis, Buckl. in Proc. Phil. Acad. 1802, 92, in part; Gray, 

 same, 334. 



Calaveras Countv (Ilillcbmnd) ; Oregon (Tnhnir, NnttdU), ami nortiiward to Arctic America. 

 Found also in the Whit(^ MounUrins of New Hampshire, tlie Rocky Mountains, and in the north- 

 ern regions of both continents. Liable to be confounded with C. Ci(Jin<lr».tt\ from which it is 

 mainly distinguished by its longer ami mon^ acute glumes and its stouter and (usually) exscrted 

 awn. In the ('alilbrni;iu specimens the glumes barely exceed two lines long, l>eing jirecisely like 

 the Oregon specimens of Nuttall {C. Vohunhinuvs, Nutt. in herb.), which Dr. Gray (Revision of 



