Alroins. GKAMINE^. 3Qf) 



Eiiroka ami ur.xr San Fraiirispo (Bolamfrr) ■ Sioira Vallny (Lrmr,im>) ; northward to AVasliinj,'- 

 ton T(Mritory and cast to tlic Saskatolicwan, N('l)raska and New M.-xii'O ; also on botli shon-s of 

 tin; Atlantic and in Asia. Varionsly relVrrcil liy dillcrcnt anliiors, nndcr nnniorons sjiecilic nanios, 

 to Pon, Glijccria, Frslttai and Alropis. Witli spccinii'ns IVom coast localities only it is not diliicnlt 

 to make out both A. dislava and A. marUiiivi ; the fornis with lew-llowcrcd spikclets in spread- 

 in^f panicles answering for the one, while those witli luany-llowered spikelets on the solitary or 

 geminate rays of an erect and somewhat one-sided panicle correspond with the description of 

 A. vmrilim'i. Specimens from numerous mountain localities sustain th(! view of Trinius, who 

 nnder Poa § Alropis (Mem. Acad. St. I'etcrsb. 1831, 389) places Poa disttais, I.inn., P. inarilwm, 

 lluds., and several other related species as varieties of P. arcnaria, lletz. In biinging them 

 together nnder Alropis it seems piefcrable to adopt one of the specilic names by which they have 

 been heretofore well known. The specimens collected by licmmon in Sierra Valley are from 

 4 to 10 inches high, but with a spreading panicle, and approach in .size the form which has been 

 called Ghjccria au(/H.ifnta, though in that the bramdics of the panicle are erect and rarely more 

 than l-(lowercd. Holander's plant collected at Knreka is e.xactly the Kuropeaii A . fcstiicccformis, 

 wliile his specimens from near San Francisco and overllowed by the tides would be A. mariiimd, 

 were not the branches of the panicle in lives ; one of the chief characters given for that species 

 being the solitary or geminate rays. 



2. A. procumbens. Annual, its root-fibres with a coiiioiis cottony pubescence ; 

 culms sonietiuies decuniljent at base, stout, 2 to 10 iiiclies high, much enlarged 

 below by the crowded withered sheaths, glaucous : leaves Hat, or at most folded, 

 those of the culm an inch long or less, about a line wide, barely tapering to the cari- 

 nate scabrous apex; ligule long, acute; sheaths broad, striate, mostly Hat : panicle 

 -i to l^ inches long, its base exceeded by the upper sheath ; rays solitary or in twos 

 or threes, at length spreading, the few spikelets usually distichous; spikelets 2-/5- 

 ilowcred, subsessile : glumes half as long as the lower florets, the lower acute, its 

 lateral nerves not extending half its length ; upper broadly ovate, submucronate, 

 3- or indistinctly 5-nervcd : lower palet 2 lines long, broad, obtuse, obscurely erose- 

 toothed, often mucronatc, strongly scabrous on the keel, the marginal nerves obscure, 

 slightly pubescent at base ; the strongly ciliatc upper pal(>t mostly equalling the 

 lower, — Pon procninhens, Curt. 1\ riipesfris, With. Sclcrochloa pmcnmbena, Beauv. 

 Festuca procumbens, Kunth, Eiium. i. 393 and Suppl. 328, t. 29, fig. 3. 



Mendocino County {Bolandrr, n. 6467), collected with Arjrnstis mucronnta, Presl, which closely 

 resembles it in general appearance ; western coast of P]uroi)e. All the specimens have dense 

 spike-like panicles witli a close resemblance to and the soft feeling of some dwnvf A /upcrnnis: 

 When the short secund branches of the panicle are expanded the plant has a widely dilferent 

 appearance, as is shown by siiccimens from the coast of England, with both conditions in the 

 .same specimen. 



3. A. Californica, Munro ^Is. Densely tufted perennial, its somewhat rigid 

 culms a foot or more high, and the pale-green foliage miinttely scabrous : radi- 

 cal leaves about half as long as the culm, mostly flat, a line or more wide ; culm- 

 leaves short, the uppermost often reduced to a mucro, acute-pointed ; ligule short, 

 truncate : panicle 2 to 3 inches long, contracted, or with the rays (in pairs or threes) 

 spreading; si)ikelets 3 - 7-llowered, ovate, ilattisli, pale green or purplish, mem- 

 branaceous, mostly dicecious : glumes acute, rougli on the liack, the upper broader, 

 distinctly 3-nerved for half its length, f the length of its floret, the lower irregularly 

 3-nerved : lower palet 2 lines long, the intermediate nerves faint, all but the central 

 disappearing a third below the broadly scarious irregularly erose apex, the lower 

 half of the middle and marginal nerves usually silky-pubescent ; tipper palet \ the 

 shorter, broadly 2-nerved, with wide inllexed margins, ciliate on the nerves and 

 narrowly truncate above. — Sclerochloa C'tHformca, Munro in J'.entii. PI. Hartw. 

 342. kniip-ostis Fendlfri, Steud. Syn. (J rain. 278. Pna aiuUnn, Nutt. in herb. 

 Gray (not Trin.) ; Watson, But. King Exp. 388; Va.scy, T.ot. Wheeler Exp. 289. 



In various localities near San Francisco (/Wrrnf^r) ; Monterey (/Mr^crf;) ; nn-l in the moun- 

 tains throucrh the interior to Colorado ami New Mexico, and southward into Mexico. In the list 

 of IIartwe"'s plants this was enumerated as " Sr/rrnrlifoa Califoriiicn, Munro, sp. n." As no 

 descriptiorrwas given, several have snpposc.l that the following species was the plant mten.led to 

 be thus named, and it has been distributed under the name, thus causing much cnlusioii. I.csidrs 

 abundant other dillerences, the great .lissimilarity in the foliage allows the two to be .ll^tlllgulshed 



