148 SYNOPSIS OF THE FLORA OF COLORADO. 



Animal, creeping, very much branched from the base; branches fascicu- 

 late, 3'-8' long; leaves I'-^'loug, flat, l"-2" wide, somewhat pungent, 

 scabrous on the margin ; spikelets mostly 3, closely approximated ; 3-4- 

 flowered; glumes almost unilateral, linear-lanceolate, carinate; palets 

 2-3 times longer than the glumes, lanceolate, acute, upper one bicari- 

 nate, rather obtuse. On the plains, Hall & Harbour, (538. Colorado 

 Springs, Porter. Denver, Dr. /Smith. Gallon City, Brandegee. 



LEPTOCHLOA FASCICULARIS, Gr. Hall & Harbour, 644. 



TRICUSPIS PURPUREA, Nutt. Hall & Harbour, 645. 



TRICUSPIS MUTICA, Torr. Bot. Whippl. p. 156. Crespitose, glabrous. 

 1 high; culm rigid, terete, erect, very simple; leaves convolute-filiform, 

 3'-6' long; panicle terminal, much exserted, racemose, 3'-6' long, the 

 short, appressed branches bearing 3-5 spikelets; spikelets rather terete, 

 5-S-flowered , glumes unequal, 1-nerved, rather acute, scarcely half the 

 length of the spikelets; lower palet awuless, entire or bilid, long ciliate 

 on the margin and back; upper palet shorter than the lower, notched 

 at the apex, plumose on the margin ; style short ; stigmas plumose, pur- 

 ple. Canon City, Greene, 1873. 



TRICUSPIS ACUMINATA, Mnriro, in Herb. Thurb. " Culms caespitose, 

 simple, usually with but a single node, which bears a very short leaf; 

 panicle dense, ovoid ; spikelets subsessile, 8-12 flowered, the rachis 

 easily disarticulating; glumes acuminate, 1-nerved, the upper subarist- 

 ate and with the palets carinately compressed ; lower palet 3" long, 

 acuminate, membranaceous, 3 nerved, marginal nerves terminating at 

 the scarcely bifid apex, the central one prolonged into a seta J the 

 length of the palet, which is densely silky below and somewhat pilose 

 above the marginal nerves, with a conspicuously silky tuft near the 

 base; upper palet ovate, obtuse, J shorter than the lower; stamens 3; 

 ovary stipitate ; styles plumose with simple hairs; sqnamulae 2, fleshy, 

 truncate ; seed fusiform, smooth, shining and translucent, except the 

 scutellum, which is nearly half its length. This exceedingly neat and 

 interesting species is apparently a perennial, forming tufts with culms 

 6' to 1 or more high, somewhat rigid, compressed, and often geniculate 

 at base; nodes red; sheaths much shorter than the in tern odea, with a 

 pilose tuft at the throat; ligule minute, lacerate ; the pale-green leaves 

 plane or canaliculate, rigid, distinctly 3-nerved, pubescent, scabrous on 

 the margins, obtuse and mucronulate at apex; radical leaves 2' and 

 those of tlie culm j' long; panicle l'-2' long with a few erect 1-3 

 flowered branches, whitish or with a very slight purple tinge ; the 

 broad palets (at least when dry) nearly colorless, with green nerves and 

 beautifully silky hairs upon the lower portion and marginal nerves ; 

 upper palet bicarinate, ciliate on the nerves and conformed to the lower 

 one. The plant has something of the habit of Trieuxpis ( Uralepis) 

 avenacea, Kth., and has been mixed with it by collectors, but is readily 

 distinguished by its larger and many-flowered spikelets and its carinate, 

 acuminate, and mostly entire lower palet. Texas, Linahcimer, 738; 

 Bigcloic ; Wright, 781, 782, (in part) and 2058. Xew Mexico, Fendler, 

 915." Caiion City, Colorado, Brandegee ; Greene, 1873. 



GRAPHEPHORUM(?) FLEXUOSUM, Thurber Proc. Acad. Phil., March, 

 1863, p. 18, Note. Culm 3 high, smooth ; sheath surpassing the inter- 

 nodes, furnished with a ring of hairs instead of a ligule ; leaves llong, 

 "2." broad, setaceous-acuminate; panicle loosely-flowered; branches scat- 

 tered, the lowest distant, about 4' long, naked below, branchlets few, 

 capillary; spikelets ovate, compressed, 3-6-flowered, 2,} // -3 // long, twice 

 or four times shorter than the pedicels; glumes membranaceous, 1-nerved, 



