GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 397 



winged, nerved, rough on the margins, contracted into a beak scarcely as long as 

 the body, the whole not longer than the thin-margined scale. Colorado, Utah, and 

 northward. (Eu.) 



85. C. Liddoni, Boott. Culm erect or nearly so: spikes 3 to 6, obovoid or 

 oblong, pointed, erect, chaffy at the base, conspicuously fulvous in color, contiguous, 

 or loosely aggregated into an oblong head (about an inch long) : perigynium large 

 and conspicuous, greenish or tawny, firm in texture, lanceolate (4 to 6 lines long), 

 thrice as long as the elliptic brown achenium, few-nerved when mature, rough on 

 the narrowly winged and incurved margins, very gradually beaked, about the 

 length of the acute and thin-margined scale. C. adusta, var. congesta, W. Boott. 

 Mostly at high altitudes, South Park, Colorado ( John Wolfe), and Montana 

 (F. L. Scribner) ; said to occur in Arizona. 



86. C. adusta, Boott, var. minor, Boott. Culm very slender towards 

 the top, weak and nodding at maturity, erect when young: leaves narrow, 

 very long-pointed : spikes all silvery brown, long-attenuated at the base, the lower 

 rather remote: perigynium thin and papery, ovate-lanceolate, nearly nerveless. 

 C. pratensis, Drejer. South Park, Colorado ( John Wolfe) ; also in British 

 America. 



87. C. Straminea, Schk. Culms erect, 1 to 2 feet high, mostly stiff, much 

 longer than the erect long-pointed stem-leaves: spikes 3 to 8, all distinct, ovoid or 

 globose, tawny or straw-colored, mostly approximate at the top of the culm : 

 perigynium orbicular or ovate-orbicular, often cordate at base, few-nerved, thin, very 

 ividely -winged, spreading, abruptly contracted into a smooth or nearly smooth beak 

 which is not longer than, the body, much wider and usually longer than the acute 

 scale. C. festucacea, Schk. Vars. festucacea and aperta, Boott. Dry banks, 

 New Mexico (Fendler), Uintas, Northern Utah ( Watson), Colorado ( Vasey), 

 Bitter-Root Valley, Western Montana ( Watson), and eastward ; also in British 

 America. 



Var. tenera, Boott. Top of the culm slender and somewhat nodding: spikes 

 more tawny. C. tenera, Dew. Indian Territory ( Geo. D. Butler). 



ORDER 88. GRAUIINE^. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



Grasses, with usually hollow stems (culms) closed at the joints, alter- 

 nate 2-ranked leaves, their sheaths split or open on the side opposite 

 the blade; the hypogynous flowers imbricated with 2-ranked glumes 

 or bracts ; the outer pair (glumes proper) subtending the spikelet of 

 one or several flowers ; the inner pair (flowering glume and palet) en- 

 closing each particular flower, which is usually furnished with 2 or 

 3 minute hypogynous scales. Stamens 1 to 6, mostly 3 : anthers 

 versatile. Styles 2 or 2-parted : stigmas hairy or plumose. Ovary 

 1 -celled, 1-ovuled, forming a seed-like grain in fruit. Eoots fibrous. 

 Sheaths of the leaves more or less extended above the base of the 

 blade into a scarious appendage (ligule). See Vasey's Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of U. S. Grasses. 



