314 GRAMINE.E. Poa. 



that it does not well agree with tlie geiieiic characters. It is apparently' tlie type of a distinct 

 genus, but in the absence of fruiting specimens it seems better to h'ave it as an anomalous Poa. 

 Should it prove to be generically di.-,tinct, then to avoid the multiplication of names there seems 

 to be no objection to adopting Ardopoa, Griseb. Kone of the specimens have stamens, and the re- 

 markable develojiment of stigmas, which much exceed the ]ialet and are broad as well as long, 

 makes it probable that the plant will j)rove to be dicecious. The very long and lacerate scales, as 

 well as the hairy ovary, are unlike those in both Glyccria and Poa. The panicle is jjale straw- 

 color with an occasional faint tinge of ])urple. The leaves are very pale green, dry and rigid, 

 Hat excejjt towards the aiHJX, and with a barely perceptible roughness. 



§ 3. Sjnkelets dicecious, in dense ovate heads : perennials, witli long slender root- 

 stocks, (jrotuuKj in shifting sands on tlie coast. 



10. P. Douglasii, Nees. Culms slender, often branclied below and clothed 

 with numei'oiis nmrcescent sheaths, G to 12 inches high : radical leaves numerons, 

 setaceously convolute, smooth, soft, mostly exceeding _the cidni ; culm leaves two to 

 live, the uppermost 2 to 4 inches long, less closely convolute, rarely Hat at base, 

 striately many-nerved and finely. pubescent above; upper ligule about a line long, 

 truncate ; sheaths crowded below, the upper very loose : panicle 1 or 2 inches long, 

 often included at the unerpial base; spikelets 3- 5-tlowered, broadly ovate, llattened, 

 4 lines long and when in ilower as broad : glumes ^ shorter than the ilorets, acute, 

 ciliato on the keel, somc^times on the margin : lower palet 3 lines long, lancet)Iato, 

 acute, the mid nerve often mucronate-excurrent, indistinctly r)-n(!rved, the k(!el 

 ciliate-])ubescent above and with the marginal nerves softly hairy and more or less 

 crisped-wooUy below ; ujiper palet about etpial, ciliate : staminate Ilorets with im- 

 perfect ovaries ; i)istillate Ilorets with one or more abortive stamens : scales very 

 acute : ovary long-stipitate ; styles thick at base ; stigmas nearly sessile, very broad 

 below with longer hairs. — Ann. Nat. Ilist. 1st ser. i. 284. P. Cnlifornica, Steud. 

 Syn. Gram. 2G1. Brizopyruni Douglasii, Hook. <k Arn. Bot. Beechey, 404; Torr. 

 in Pacif. 11. liep. iv. 157. 



San Francisco and liolinas Bay (Bolandcr) ; Monterey Hay {Parry) ; elsewhere on the coast, 

 DoiKjlns, Coulter. The rhizomes, though scarcely larger tlian a ])ack-thread, are wonderfully 

 tenacious ; they run to a great distance, branching freely, and with their abundant clusters of 

 leaves and (lowering stems, do excellent service in binding the blowing sands. The heads in shape 

 and color have a strong resemblance to those of Canary-Grass {I'lialaris Canaricnsis). The stami- 

 nate heads are usually rather smaller and lighter colored than the pistillate, which are of a very 

 jiale green. The height above given is for the culms above the rootstocks, but half or two-thirds 

 of that is beneath the surface of the sand. In sejiarating this from Poa, to which Nees originally 

 referred it, and placing it in Brizopyruni, Hooker & Arnott nnist have relied mainly njion its 

 dicecious character, and couM not have compared the ovaries, styles, etc., as they are widely dif- 

 ferent. In DisliclUis (Brizopyruni) the styles are unusually elongated, naked for a long distance 

 below and stigmatic with short hairs near the apex ; the upper palet is convolute above, forming 

 a channel through which they are exserted, while in this sjiecies they arc exserted near the base 

 of the palet. The scales also in Didicldia are broadly truncate, with the upper margin 2- or 3-lobcd 

 or notched, and the ovary is sessile. 



51. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. 

 Panicle spreading or narrow or variously clustered. Spikelets few - many- (2 - 70-) 

 flowered, compressed -flattened. Glumes shorter than the florets, 1 -nerved. Lower 

 l)alet herbaceous, 3-nerve(l, unawned ; upper palet shorter, i)rominently 2-keeled, 

 ])ersistent upon the rhachis after the rest of the flower has fallen. Stamens 3, with 

 short iilametits. Scales 2, subcuneato. Styles 2, elongated, ])lumose above. Seed 

 ovoid or oblong, not fin-rowed, free. — ^[ostly annuals with narrow convolute leaves 

 and sheaths often hairy-bearded at the throat. 



A large genus in warm ami temperate regions. Formerly included in Poa, from which it dilfei-s 

 in its 3-nerved lower jialet, which is without webby hairs, and in the persistent upper palet. 



1. E, reptans, Xees. Culms prostrate, creeping, much branched from an awned 

 root : leaves shoit, al)out an inch long, subulate-pointed' and smooth or with the 



