198 



PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS I BOTANY. 



i. A. ATROPURPUREA Wahlenb. (Scheele sub Deschampsid]. 



(A. magellanica Hook, f.) 



Cespitose, erect, 20 cm. tall. Leaves plane, puberulous above ; ligule 

 ovate, truncate, toothed. Panicle lax, 7 cm. long, its branches paired, 



slender, apically spiculiferous. Spikelets 4 

 mm. long, 2-flowered ; glumes ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, acute, purplish or green at the base ; 

 flowers shorter, the lower subsessile. Floral 

 glume long, truncate, silky at base, ciliate- 

 toothed, awned above the middle, the awn 

 straight and included. (Fig. 36.) 



( Lapland ; Arctic Amer. ) Magellan, 

 Puerto del Hombre. 



2. 



FIG. 36. 



Aira atropurpurea. Inflorescence ; 

 spikelet and essential organs. 



Silvery 



A. CARYOPHYLLEA Linn. 



Hair-grass. 



Slender, cespitose, glabrous, 10-20 cm. 

 tall, with silvery lax panicle having its rays 

 in 2's or 3's. Ligules 3 mm. long; leaf-blades 1-3 cm. long, soft, narrow, 

 soon twisting. Spikelets erect, silvery ; glumes 2-3 mm. long, ovate, acute, 

 i -nerved ; floral glume shorter, with projecting dorsal awn. 

 (Eur., naturalized in N. Amer. Fig. in Brit. & Br. i, 168.) 

 Falkland Is., introduced. 



3. A. SPICIFORMIS Steud. 



Cespitose and smooth; culms erect, 10-15 cm. tall. Ligule hyaline, 

 oblong. Panicle contracted, spike-like or oblong, 25-35 mm - l n g ! the 

 rays short, few-spiculate ; the spikelets violet and green, 2-flowered. 

 Glumes not equalling the flowers, glabrous ; floral glume ovate, incom- 

 pletely 3-nerved. Palea ovate, its margin ciliolate. 



Magellan ; W. Fuegia. 



"Very beautiful. My specimens differ from the type, having the color 

 not or scarcely glaucescent, panicle linear, lower valvule 5-nerved. ' ' (Speg. ) 



4. A. SUPERBIENS Steud. 



Cespitose ; culms erect, pale-stramineous, 30-60 cm. tall, rough above. 

 Sheaths lax, often purplish ; ligule hyaline, acute ; leaf-blades linear-lanceo- 

 late, 12-25 mm - l n g> pungent. Panicle spike-like, the rays in 3's and 



