Melka. 



GllAMINE.E. 30o 



* Glumes nearly equalling the florets : lower palct scarious-raargined, mostly obtuse and entire 



at the apex. 

 Spikelet of one perfect flower (rarely 2) and a short-pedicelled sterile one. 1. M. imperfecta. 

 Spikelets with 2 to 4 perfect flowers. . , ,i •<• o Af =•,„,,.-,.> 



Panicle racemose and secund : .spikelets membranous : not bulbiferons. 2. M. siricia. 

 Panicle dense, spike-like above : spikelets membranous : sterile floret 



hooded : culm bulbiferons. 7 aV ^^™'"^" 



Panicle spreading, few-flowered : florets coriaceo-herbaceous : bulbiferons. 4. M. flgax. 



* * Glumes distinctly shorter than the lower floret : lower palet acute or long-acuminate, or often 



notched or truncate and bifid, pointed or awned. 



Lower palet merely notched or bifid, with a brief point or manifest awn. „„..,.,^.. 



Culnl bulbiferons: lower palet acute : awn less than a line long 5. M. BROMOIDES. 



Culm not bulbiferons : lower palet truncate and 2-toothed or 2-lobed. ,, „ „^ , , „ 



Lower palet conspicuously ciliate below, mostly short-awned. 6. M. Harfokdii. 



Lower palet with only a few stirt" marginal hairs at base : awn from below 



the til), half its length or more. '• l\- aristata. 



Lower palet ending in a long setiform acumination : culm bulbiferons. 8. M. acuminata. 



§ 1. Ghtmes nearhj or quite equalling the florets: lower palet scariondy mar- 

 gined, obtuse and entire at the apex : sterile floret clamte, hooded, or Uke 

 the others but smaller. — Melioa proper. 



1. M. imperfecta, Trin. CXilms tufted from strong fibrous roots, 1 to 3 feet 

 hio-h slender : leaves narrow, long-acuminate, from smooth to very scabrous and 

 pibs'e-pubescent : panicle 8 to 12 inches long, rays in remote fascicles, very unequal 

 (1 to 3 inches long), the shorter densely flowered to the base ; spikelets 2 lines long, 

 minutely scabrous, 1-flowered with an imperfect floret : glumes 3-nerved, the upper 

 and larger indistinctly 5-nerved : lower palet rather acute, strongly 7-nerved, usual y 

 purplish above except the scarious margin ; upper palet about as long, 2-toothed : 

 sterile flower short-pedicelled, two-thirds as long as the perfect one, sometimes en- 

 closing' a second. — Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1840, 59, and Icon. Gram. t. 35o ; 

 Bolander, Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 101. M. colpodioides, Nees, Tayl. T^Iag. Nat. Hist. 

 i. 282. M. panicoides, Nutt. PI. Gamb. 188. i • , 



Var. flexuosa, Bolander, 1. c. Branches of the few-flowered simple panicle 

 generally in pairs, widely spreading, often reflexed : florets larger, acute, paler and 

 more coriaceous. , ■, ■, a 



Var. refracta. Densely velvety pubescent throughout : panicle slender, flexuose, 

 the few distant few-flowered rays all strongly refracted : flowers very acute. 



In various localities, from San Diego northward to Oregon ; the flrst variety on the road fi-om 

 Mariposa to Clark's (Bo/ander), and Santa Inez Mission (Brewer, n. 569) ; the second near San 

 Bernardino, Lcmmon. Exceedingly variable in size and appearance. Sometimes both tlie glumes 

 and florets are blackish-purple while their shining scarious margins are bronzed ; specimens trom 

 Los Angeles are pale straw-color throughout. Had it priority, Nuttall s name tor the species 

 would be preferable as descriptive, the spikelets having a strong resemblance to some I anicums. 



2. M. Stricta, Bolander. Densely tufted, 1 or 2 feet high : leaves mostly four, 

 4 to 6 inches long by 2 lines wide at the subauriculate base, rarely scabrous above 

 and slightly hairy beneath, with a convolute rigid point and densely velvety-pubes- 

 cent sheaths : panicle 4 to 6 inches long, about 12-flowered, resembling a simple 

 secund raceme, the mostly solitary erect capillary rays 1 - 4-flowered ; spikelets 

 mostly pendulous, 6 to 8 lines long, with 2 to 4 membranous scabrous perfect flowers : 

 glumes nearly equal, narrowed below, acute, 5-nerved: lower palet 6 hues long, un- 

 equally 5-nerved, the lateral nerves connected by cross-veinlets : upper palet ha|t as 

 long, emarginate, softly ciliate : neutral floret similar but much smaller. — 1 roc. 

 Cahf. Acad. iii. 4, and iv. 104 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 384. 



In the Sierra Nevada (Brciver, Bolander, Lemmon), and frequent in the mountains of Nevada. 

 Though generally densely pubescent, .some of the Nevada specimens are strongly scabrous. Lem- 

 mon's° specimens have the scarious sheaths at the base very dark purple and the spi vciets 

 beautifully tinged below with the same color but otherwise of a rieli light brown, iu-estnnn„ .i 

 marked contrast to the usual notably pale and colorless condition. This species does not mak., a 

 .bulb, but the lower node is swollen and soli<l, and tunicated with sheaths as lu bulbous toims. 



