GRASS FAMILY. 



215 



3. Puccinellia airoides (Nutt.) Wats. & Coult. Slender Meadow-* 



(Fie-. 4 Q r ) 



Poa airoides Nutt. Gen. i: 68. 1818. 

 Panicularia distans airoides Scribn. Mem. Torr. Club 

 5: 54. 1894. 

 >nuinellia airoides Wats. & Coult. in A. Gray, Man. 



Culms i-4 tall, erect, simple, smooth and gla- 

 aus. Sheaths usually longer than the i nternodes ; 

 le i" long; leaves 2'-6' long, i#" wide or less,' 

 at or involute, usually erect, smooth beneath! 

 sugh above; panicle open, its branches slender' 

 preading or ascending, rarely erect, the lower 

 ' long and often reflexed; spikelets scattered, 

 i-7-flowered, i#"-3" long; empty scales unequal' 

 tie first acute, i-nerved, the second obtuse or 

 cute, 3-nerved, more than half the length of the 

 obtuse flowering scales, which are i"-i%" long. 



In saline soil, Manitoba to the Northwest Territory 

 Washington, Colorado and Nevada. July-Aug. 



4- Puccinellia angustata . k Itr. Nash. 

 Arctic Meadow-gi : ig. 496. ) 



Poa angustala R. Br. App. Parry's VOT. 387. fftsj 

 Panicularia anguslala Scribn. Mem. Torr dab. 



5: 54- 1894. 

 Puccinellia mar it i ma var. minor S. Wt- 



Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 668. 1890. 

 Puccinellia angustala Nash, Bull. Torr Club 



512. 1895. 



Smooth and glabrous, culms 4 / -i2 / tall, erect, 

 simple. Sheaths usually overlapping; ligule i" 

 long; leaves %'-2%' long, i" wide or less; pan- 

 icle i / -2 / in length, contracted, the branches 

 short and erevt or appressed; spikelets 2-7-flow- 

 ered, 3"-4" long; empty scales obtuse or rounded 

 at the apex, the first i -nerved, the second 3- 

 nerved; flowering scales i>("-i)"long, usually 

 purplish, rounded at the apex. 



Greenland and Hudson Bay to Alaska, sooth to 



Maine. Also in Kurope and Asia. Sunn- 



83. FESTUCA L. Sp. PI. 73. 1753. 



Mostly tufted perennial grasses, with flat or convolute leaves and paniculate inflores- 

 cence. Spikelets 2-several-flowered. Two lower scales empty, more or less unequal, acute. 

 keeled; flowering scales membranous, narrow, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, usually acute, 

 and generally awned at the apex. Palet scarcely shorter than the scale. Stamen - 

 Styles very short, distinct. Stigmas plumose. Grain glabrous, elongated, often adher 

 the scale or palet. [Latin, stalk or straw.] 



A genus of about 80 species, widely distributed, particularly numerous in temperate regions. 

 Besides the following, some 15 others occur in the western parts of North Amrrica. 

 Leaves i" wide or less. 



Annuals; flowering scales awned. 



First scale more than half as long as the second; awn short. 

 First scale less than half as long as the second; awn long. 

 Perennials; flowering scales short-awned or bristle-pointed, 

 Basal leaves filiform or setaceous, K" wide. 

 Culms from a rootstock or with stolons. 

 Culms densely tufted, no rootstocks. 



Basal leaves flat, about i" wide, becoming involute in drying. 

 Leaves 2" wide or more, flat. 



Flowering scales unawned or short-awned. 



Flowering scales 2 1 A"-$*A" long; spikelets 5-io-flowered. 

 Flowering scales 2" long or less; spikelets 3-6-flowen-d. 





Spikelets very broad; branches of the panicle spikelet-bearing from the mW 



below; flowering scales obtuse. 

 Spikelets lanceolate; branches elongated ; spikelets at ends; seal 

 Flowering scales long-awned. 



