FESTrCE.E. 



473 



Rootstocks strong, creeping. Culms sniootli. flexuous, 20-00 

 cm. high. Shcatlis longer than the internodes, smooth; ligiile 

 u hairy ring; blades 30-50 cm. long, mostly near the base, rigid, 

 .smooth, involute. Panicle with distant alternate spreading rays, 

 naked below, the lower 10-15 cm. long, branches tilil'orm. divergent. 

 8j)ikelets on jiedicels 2-3 cm. long, ovate, com])ressed, 4-T mm. 

 long, llorets crowded: first empty glume 2-2..') mm. long, second a 

 little longer and broader; tloral glume with white hairs at the base, 

 1-2 mm. long, com])ressed, acute to erose. 



Kansas, Vaseij in IHSi) for Nat. Mus., also found in Colorado. 



10!). (22(j). DiSSANTHELIUM Trill. Liiiiiavi 10:305 (1830). 

 Phdaridiimt Nees, Kov. Act. Nat. Cur. l!i: Suppl. 1, 101 (1S43). 

 Stcnocliha Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. Ser. 2. 1: 1S1» (!S47). 



Spikelets 2-4-llo\vered, in a narrow usually dense panicle, 

 rachilla glabrous, articulate between tlie llowers and produced l)e- 

 yond as a minute bristle. Em[)ty glumes persistent, narrow, keeled, 

 1-3-iierved. acute or acuminate, slightly uiie(|ual; llonil glume 

 much shorter, l)roadcr, rather obtuse, awuless, 

 keeled. 3-nerved; palea shorter than its glume, 

 2-ke('led. 2-toothed. Stamens 1-3. Grain oblong, 

 subtri(iuetroiis, slightly furrowed or not, included, 

 but not adherent. Low tufted annuals or peri'U- 

 nials with nai'row flat blades. Panicle shortly 

 exsertcd. 



'I'here are two or three species found in America 

 from California to Bolivia. 



1. D. Californicum (Nutt.) P.entli. Hook. 

 Icones. PI. 14:00, /. 1375 (1881). Stciiovhloa 

 Califoniira Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. 1:189 



(^^"^')- Fia. or..— 7)4.va/i- 



Annual; culms sjiaringly branched below, 10- thelium Califor 



, . , iL.i 1 ' 1 ii 1 tiifum. Si)ik«'lft 



30 cm. high. Siieatlis smootli, ratiier loose, Usseoied. iSnib- 



striate, about as long as the internodes: ligule ob- "*^''') 

 tuse, 2-3 mm. long; blades flat or conduplicate. broad at the base, 

 acuminate, 10-20 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide. Panicle loosely spike- 

 like, 5-12 cm. long, rays erect, mostly in pairs (in large ])lants 



