Eriocoma. GRAMINE.E. 283 



24. ERIOCOMA, Niitt. Silky-Grass. 

 Panicle few-ilowereil witli spreading slender dicliotomously branclied rays, or very 

 narrow with lew 1 - 3-llowered erect rays. Spikelets solitary, l-flowcrcd. Glumes 

 nearly equal, membranaceous, acuminate or att('nuate-j)c>inted, the lower 3-, the 

 njiper 5-nerved. Floret much shorter than the glumes, ovate, with a short distinct 

 callus. Palets at lirst herbaceous, becoming coriaceous or even cru^taceous, the lower 

 much l)road('r, involving the ui»|)('r, clothiMl with very long white silky hairs, bear- 

 ing at or just below the apex a short straight or curved obscurely tritpictrous cadu- 

 cous awn. Scales 3, as long as the ovary. Stamens 3 ; anthers bearded or naked. 

 Ovary stipitate. — Urachne § Eriocoma, Trin. & Rupr. Fendleria, Steud. 



To this iiitcicstinw gptiiis, for a long timn known only by a single widely distributed species, a 

 second species is doiibtlnlly referred. In both, but consjucuously so in tlie fiist, tlie fibres of the 

 root are clothed with a dense covering of matted cottony hairs, which mnkt; them appear three 

 times their real size. Perennials, forming dense tufts crowded l)elow with the remains of the 

 sheaths of former years ; foliage very pale and rigid. Steudel founded his FcniV.cria on Fendler's 

 n. 970, whii'li he desciibes as having a second and neuter tlorct as a slender and very thin ])alet 

 shorter than the glumes. An examination of otlier specimens collected under this number, and of 

 many others from a wide range of localities, fails to discover this second floret; there is at most, 

 as noted by Watson (1. c. ), "a veiy short and thick process at the base of the upix!r palet." 



1. E. cuspidata, Nutt. Culms 1 to 2 feet high, mostly simple, sometimes 

 geniculate at the upper node : leaves setaceously convulute, rigid, scabrous, the radi- 

 cal ones often equalling the culm ; cauline three, the up|)ermost nearly equalling 

 the panicle or reduced to a fdiform point ; ligide a line long or more, acute, mostly 

 bilid ; sheaths roughish, the middle one shorter than its internode, the upper very 

 loose: panicle at length exsortcd, about indies long and nearly as broad, the 

 capillary often tlexuose rays mostly in pairs, the lower several times dichotoraously 

 branched, the upper branched but once, at their extremities, tlie branches 1-ilowered : 

 spikelets 3 or 4 lines long : glumes ventricose below, attenuate-rostrate, pubescent, 

 colorless except the green nerves, the mid nerve only extending the whole length : 

 floret about half the length of the glumes ; lower i)alet broadly oval, green and herba- 

 ceous when young, shorter tlian its long hairs, becoming hard, bnjwn, and finally 

 black and shining and naked, the 5 nerves conlluent near the oliscurely bifiil apex ; 

 upper palet ecpial, narrow, 2 nerved, entire ; awn mostly longer than the i)alet, nearly 

 straight : antlier-cclls bearing usually f) hairs about \ their length. — Nutt. Gen. i. 

 40 ; Watson, ]>ot. King Exp. 379. Stipd membrnnncen, Pursh. Sfi/xi ht//neiioi<les, 

 Poem. & Schult. Syst. ii. 339 and Mant. 188. Urarhne famtta, Trin. Panic. 38; 

 Trin. & Rupr. Stipacere, 19. Fendleria rhj/nchelytroide^, Steud. Syn. Gram. 420. 



"From the Sierras eastward" {Bnlnndcr), and northward to British Anieiica; common in 

 Nevada and Utah, at 4,000 to 8,000 feet altitude {IFatsnn), extending eastward to Missouri and 

 southward to New Mexico and Texas. A remarkably handsome grass, the regular bratiching of 

 its panicle, with a few large white spikelets, making it especially noticeable. Valued by travel- 

 lers as one of the several kinds of " Mmich-grass." The awn falls so soon that specimens are fre- 

 quently quite awnlcss, but the large seeds inclosed in the hardened palets remain a long time. 



2. E. "Webberi. Culms densely tufted, 3 to 6 inches high, slender and wiry : 

 leaves convolute, rigid, pungent at the apex, scabrous, the radical 2 to 3 inches long, 

 numerous ; culm leaves 4, the uppermost an inch long or less ; upi)er ligules mani- 

 fest, rounded, the lower obscure ; lower sheaths crowded, the up{)ermost dilated : 

 panicle 1 to 2^ inches long, very narrow, few flowered ; rays slender, erect, the 

 lower in threes and 1 - 3-flowere(i, the upper solitary, 1 -flowered : glumes 4 lines 

 long, acuminate, often purple tinged : floret about 3 lines hmg, witli a short callus, 

 deciduous ; lower palet (when young) herbaceous, 5-nerveil, the lateral nerves arched 

 towards and meeting the central one, apex minutely 2-lobed, covered throughoiit with 

 copious silky white hairs a lino long ; upper palet ec^ual and siuularly hairy on the 

 back : awn 2 lines long, very slen<ler, roughened, curved : anthers long, naked. 



