Mdiai. ■ GRAMINEJ!). 393 



* (!Iiiiiic3 nearly oquiilling tho florets: lower palet searious-inargincil, mostly obtuse and entiro 



at tlie apex. 

 Spikelet of one |ierfect flower (rarely 2) and a .sliort-pcdicellcd sterile one. 1. M. imperfixta. 

 Spikidets with 2 to 4 perfeet llowers. 



Paniele racemose and secnnd : sjiikelets membranous : not bulbiferons. 2. iM. stricta. 

 Panicle dense, spike-like above : spikelets membranous : sterile floret 



hooded : culm buIbilVrous. 3. M. RULBOSA. 



Panicle spreading, I'ew-llowered : florets coriaceo-herbaceous : bulbiferons. 4. M. fl'Gax. 



♦ ♦ Glumes distinctly shorter than the lower floret : lower palet acute or long-acuminate, or often 



notched or truncate and bilid, pointed or awned. 

 Lower palet merely notched or bifld, with a brief point or manifest awn. 

 Culm bulbiferons: lower palet acut(! : awn less than a line long. .n. M. bromoides. 



Culm not bulbiferons : lower palet truncate and 2-toothed or 2-Iobed. 



Lower palet consi)icnously ciliate below, mostly short-awned. 6. ^I. Harfordh. 



Lower palet witli only a few stiff marginal hairs at base : awn from below 



tiie tip, half its length or more. 7. M. akistata. 



Lower palet ending in a long setiform acumination : culm bulbiferons. 8. M. acuminata. 



§ 1. Glumes jiairli/ nr quite equalling the finrrta : lower 2^<^l''t scarinusly mnr- 

 f/ined, obtuse and entire at the apex: sterile floret clavate, hooded, or like 

 (he others but smaller. — Mim-Ica [iropcr. 



1. M. imperfecta, Trin. C'ulins tufted from .strong fibrous roots, 1 to 3 feet 

 high, slender : leaves narrow, long-acuminate, from smooth to very scabrous and 

 pilose-pubescent: panicle 8 to 12 inches hmg, rays in remote fascicles, very unequal 

 (1 to 3 inches long), the shorter densely ilowcred to the base ; spikelets 2 lines long, 

 minutely scabrous, l-flowered with an imperfect Horet : glumes 3-nerved, the upper 

 and larger indistinctly 5-nerved : lower palet rather acute, strongly 7-nerved, usually 

 purplisli above except the scarious margin ; upper palet about as long, 2-toothed : 

 sterile flower short-pedicelled, two-thirds as long as the perfect one, sometimes en- 

 closing a second. — Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1840, 59, and Icon. Gram. t. 355; 

 Bolander, Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 101. M. cofpodioides, Nees, Tayl. ]\Iag. Nat. Hist, 

 i. 282. .!/■. panicoides, Nutt. PI. Gaiub. 188. 



Var. flexuosa, Polamler, 1. c. Pranches of the few-flowered simple panicle 

 generally in pairs, widely spreading, often reflexed : florets larger, route, paler and 

 more coriaceous. 



Var. refracta. Densely velvety pul)escent throughout : panicle slender, flexuose, 

 the few distant few-flowered rays all strongly refi-acted : flowers very acute. 



In various localities, from Ran Diego northward to Oregon ; the first variety on the road from 

 Mariposa to Clark's {Bolntnlrr), and Santa Inez Mission (lirnrn; n. .^)r)i)) ; tiie second near San 

 Bernardino, Lonmon. Exceedingly variable in size and api)earance. Sometimes both the glumes 

 and florets are blackisli-purple while their shining scarious margins are bronzed ; specimens from 

 Los Angeles are pale straw-color throughout. Had it ]iriority, NuttalTs name for the spei^es 

 would be preferable as descriptive, the spikelets having a strong resemblance to some Panicimis. 



2. M. Stricta, Bolander. Densely tufted, 1 or 2 feet high : leaves mostly four, 

 4 to 6 inches long by 2 lines wide at the subauriculate base, rarely scabrous above 

 and slightly hairy beneath, with a convolute rigid point and deilsely velvety-pubes- 

 cent sheaths: panicle 4 to 6 inches long, about 12-flowered, resembling a simple 

 secund raceme, tho mostly solitary erect capillary rays l-4-nowere(l; spikelets 

 mostly pendulous, G to 8 lines long, with 2 to 4 membranous .scabrous perfect flowers: 

 glumes nearly e(pial, narroweil below, acute, 5-ncrved : lower palet lines long, un- 

 equally 5-nerved, the lateral nerves connected by cross-veinlets : upper palet half as 

 long, emarginate, softly ciliate : neutral floret similar but much smaller. — Proc. 

 Calif. Acad. iii. 4, and iv. 104; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 384. 



In the Sierra Nevada (nrncr.r, Bo/anrirr, Lnninnn), and frequent in the mountains of Neva<l.i. 

 Though generally densely pubescent, some of the Nevada specimens are strongly scabrous. Lem- 

 mon's specimens have the scarious sheaths at the base very dark purple, and the spik.-lcts 

 beautifully tinged below with tho same color but otherwise of a rich light brown, in-esentuig a 

 marked contrast to the usual notably j-ale and colorless condition. This species does not make a 

 bulb, but the lower node is swollen and solid, and tunicated with sheaths as in bulbous forms. 



