^i''"- GRAMINEyE. 297 



and soarious, 2-cloft, or truncate and dontirulato above, with a slender bent or straiglit 

 awn on tlio back below the middle. .Stamens .'5. Ovary smooth : slyles plumoso to 

 the base. Grain oblong, free or adherent to the palcts. 



Annuals an.l perennials, n.-itivos of trmpciatc regions, the number of spories esti.nate,! at about 

 n^JlTf- if ""; *'" -T'^'"' -y '''^^^'il^^'^l- 'I'l'« «IHHMes l.ere given belong to the section 

 I)c.champsm \ieanv. to wh.eh some botanists aeoord the rank of a genus. They" ,e ,.erennials 

 with the rhach.s of the sp.kelet produced as a pedicel or rudiment beyond the attachment of th^ 

 upper lloret; the lower palet is de icately 3-r,-nerve<l, and eroded or toothed at the truncate sun.- 

 mit, with the awn attached near the base ; grain not adherent to the palets. 



* G/i/mrs fmreJ// erji/xf/uir/ and viosthj shorter than the jiorets. 

 1. A. CSBspitOsa, Linn. Cidms 2 to 4 feet high: leaves rather stiff, flat or 

 convolute: i)anu!le 4 to 12 inches long, nodding above, the .si.readin" capillary 

 branches flower-bearing above the middle; spilvelets much compressed, shinin" 

 brownish, lead-colored or purplish, about 2 lines long: lower palet very thin, silky- 

 hairy at base, irregularly toothed ; awn inserted near the base, very slender, equaliinrr 

 or slightly shorter or longer than the palet. — Keichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. t. 9g" 

 Trin. Icon. t. 253, 254. Deschamp.va at'spUosa, 15eauv. ; Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. JIuss' 

 IV. 421. Aira Bottnica, Wahl. ; Trin. Icon. t. 255. A. ardka, Trin. Mem. Acad. 

 St. Petersb. 1831, 5G. Deschampsia brcvifolia, \l. Ur. in Parr. Voy. 191. 



San Francisco, and especially in the Sierra Nevada, from Ivern IHver (Rolhrock) to Ore<Ton and 

 northward /.yf?7/. It exten.ls from New England westward across the continent and to Sitka 

 Very variable, especially in mountainous an.l high northern localities, its different forms havin" 

 been described as species. The dwarf mountain plant, 6 or 8 inches liigli, with a tuft of short 

 setaceous leaves, is var. arcfica, Trin., and JJcschainp.iia brerifolin, R. }?r. The awn is sometimes 

 considerably longer than the palet, when it is A. Botlnicn, Wahl., and hanliy a varietv. Mr 

 Bolander collected in Calaveras County specimens with longer spikelets than usual, some of 

 which are .^-flowered, in these respects agreeing with specimens Ial)elled var. /nii,,iflom h\ Trinius 

 in Herb. Torr. -^ 



2. A. holciformis, Steud. Culms very stout, 2 to 5 feet high, from a dense 

 tuft of narrow stiff involute leaves 15 to 20 inches long; culm leaves distant and 

 narrow, the uppermost about 2 inches long : panicle erect, narrow, with snberect 

 rays, which are branched and flower-bearing to the base ; spikelets about 3 lines long, 

 short-pedicelled, nearly terete: glumes acute, rough on the nerves and near tlie 

 apex : lower palet ovate-lanceolate, memliranaceous, rather regularly 4-toothed, smooth 

 and shilling below, slightly scabrous near the tip, a silky tuft at base; awn stout, 

 inserted near the base and barely exceeding the palet. — 8yn. Gram. 221 ; Poland, 

 in Trans. Calif. Agric. Soc. 18(34-05, 138. Uesr/iampsia hohi/orwis. Fresh Pel 

 H»nk. i. 251. 



San Francisco and Oakland, Bolnndcr, n. 1524, and n. 6071, which is in the collection labelled 

 A. ca'.ipitosn, var. dcnsiflora, and was ])robably so distributed. A very robust .species with culms 

 as large as a goose-quili. Both glumes and palets are yellowish-brown above and more or less 

 tinged with purple below. Its erect and more dense panicle and the firmer texture of it-s nanower 

 spikelets distinguish this from any form of the preceding. Mr. Holandcr says, 1. c, "It yields a 

 large bulk of hay in moist meadows, but of wliat quality I am unable to say." 



* * Glumes longer than thejlorets. 

 3. A, elongata, Hook. C/ulms very slender and weak, 1 to 3 feet high or 

 more : leaves long, very narrow, mostly flat and smooth ; ligule elongated : panicle 

 very long and narrow, occupying about one third of the culm ; rays very unequal, 

 distant, mostly appressed, capillary and flower-bearing above the middle, scabrous : 

 glumes about 2 lines long, linear-.subiilate, nearly ecpial, 3-nerved, green and scabrous 

 on the keel : lower floret on a short callus, the upper upon a very plumose joint two- 

 thirds as long as the lower ; lower palet about a line long, smooth and shining, with 

 a silky tuft at base, irregularly 5-toothed above, with a very slender awn from near 

 the base twice its own length or more ; lower ]>alet of the upper floret sometimes 

 scabrous near fhe tip : terminal joint of the rhachis sirougly plumose, about ^ as long 



