Flora of the Palouse Region 25 



43. KOELERIA. 



Inflorescence a spike-like panicle: spikelets 2-5-flowered: rachilla 

 articulated between the flowering glumes: empty glumes narrow, 

 acute, unequal, keeled, scarious on the margins: flowering glumes 

 3-nerved, keeled, acute, sometimes mucronate or bristle-pointed; 

 palet hyaline, acute: grain free, enclosed in the flowering glume 

 and palet. 



K. cristata Pers. Perennial, the erect culms densely tufted, 30-70 cm. 

 tall, usually glabrous: leaves narrow, commonly involute: panicle dense, 

 greenish or purplish, shining, 5-10 cm. long, often more or less interrupted: 

 spikelets 4-5 mm. long, 2-4-flowered: glumes acuminate, scarious margined. 

 Common on dry hillsides. 



44. MEUCA. 



Inflorescence a contracted or open panicle: spikelets 1 -several- 

 flowered, often one-sided: rachilla extending beyond the flowers 

 and N usually bearing 2-3 empty club-shaped or hooded glumes 

 twisted around each other: empty glumes membranous, the lower 

 3-5-nerved, the upper 5-9-nerved: flowering glumes larger, rounded 

 on the back, 5-7-nerved, awnless, the margins more or less 

 scarious; palet broad, shorter than the flowering glume: grain free, 

 enclosed in the flowering glume and palet. 



M. SCabrata Scribn. ined. Culms 30-90 cm. tall, erect, smooth, mostly sol- 

 'itary, with bulbous bases about 1 cm. in diameter, these appearing on the 

 apices of stout rootstocks: culm leaves 3, rarely 4; sheaths strongly veined, 

 scabrous, nearly as long as the internodes, sometimes overlapping; blades 

 flat, linear, attenuate at apex, 10-15 cm - long, 2-4 mm. wide, scabrous on 

 both sides: panicle erect, narrow, 5-15 cm. long; lower branches mostly in 

 threes, the two outer of which are short and bear a single spikelet, the central 

 longer and bearing 2-5 spikelets; upper branches solitary, bearing a single 

 spikelet: spikelets ovate-lanceolate, 10-12 cm. long, 5-7-flowered, usually 

 purple: lower empty glumes 5 mm., the upper 7-8 mm. long, acutish: flow- 

 ering glumes about 7 mm. long, all minutely scabrous. In low meadows, 

 infrequent, Piper No. 1745. 



45. DACTYLIS. 



Inflorescence a densely clustered or interrupted panicle: spike- 

 lets 3-5-flowered, short-pedicelled, in small fascicles, the flowers 

 all perfect or the upper staminate: empty glumes thin, membran- 

 ous, keeled, unequal, mucronate: flowering glumes larger than 

 the empty ones, rigid, 5-uerved, keeled, the midnerve extending 

 into a point or short awn; palet shorter than the flowering glume: 

 grain free, enclosed in the flowering glume and palet. 



D. glomerata L. Perennial, tufted, the stout culms .6 to 1.5 in. tall: leaf 

 blades flat, scabrous, 6-S mm. broad; sheath scabrous, exceeding the inter- 

 node: panicle 3-10 cm. long, pyramidal-ovate, greenish or purplish; branches 



