28 Flora of the Palousc Region 



ering glume: grain glabrous, elongated, often adherent to the 

 flowering glume or palet. 



Annuals. 



Awns short, 2-4 mm. long. F. octoflora. 



Awns long, 10 mm. or more long. 



Panicle spike-like, 5-15 cm. long. F. myuros. 



Panicle with lower branches longer and divergent. 



F. MICROSTACHVS. 



Perennials. 



Densely tufted, without rootstocks. 



Flowering glumes awned. F. ovina. 



Flowering glumes awnless or very short awned. F. scabreeea. 

 Not densely tufted, creeping by rootstocks. 



Leaves narrow, involute: flowering glumes awned. 



F. RUBRA. 

 Leaves broader, fiat: glumes awnless. F. elaTior. 



F. OCtoflora Walt. Tufted annual, 8-20, rarely 30 cm. tall: panicle 2-6 

 cm. long, rather dense, often one-sided: spikelets 6-10 mm. long, 7-13-flow- 

 ered: flowering glumes 3-4 mm. long, scabrous, attenuate into an awn about 

 as long. Banks of Snake River near Lewiston, rare; also near Steptoe Butte. 



F. myuros L. Tufted annual, 30-40 cm. tall, smooth: spike-like panicle 

 elongated, flexuose, 5-25 cm. long, pale-green: spikelets 5-8-flowered, 2-2.5 

 cm. long including the awns: flowering glume lanceolate, scabrous, the body 

 5 mm., the awn 10-15 mm. long. Sparingly introduced. 



F. microstachys Nutt. Annual, stem single or a few in a loose tuft, 5-30 

 cm. tall: panicle 4-10 cm. long; branches mostly solitary, longest below, all 

 erect at first but becoming spreading or reflexed by means of a prominent 

 pulvinus at the base: spikelets 1-5-flowered: flowering glume 4-5 mm. long, 

 the awn somewhat longer. Very common. 



The species as at present received is very variable, the spikelets being 

 either glabrous or pubescent. Nuttall's types consist of at least two forms, 

 that in the Gray Herbarium being very different from that in the Philadel- 

 phia Academy of Sciences. Our form accords accurately with neither. 



F. ovina L. Densely tufted perennials, the culms 30-50 cm. tall: leaves 

 very numerous, setaceous, mostly basal, 10-15 cm - long: panicle 3-8 cm. 

 long, narrow, one-sided, the short branches erect: spikelets 3-5-flowered: 

 flowering glume, including awn, 5-7 mm. long. Two forms of this variable 

 species occur in our limits, one, with smooth leaves, in open pine woods; the 

 other, with scabrous leaves, on open prairies. 



F. SCabrella Torrey. Densely tufted perennial, .5-1 m. tall, scabrous 

 throughout: leaf blades very scabrous, strongly involute, breaking away 

 early from the sheaths which remain for several seasons at the base: panicle 

 7-10 cm. long, narrow, the ascending branches mostly in pairs, spikelet- 

 bearing above the middle: spikelet 8-10 cm. long, 3-5-flowered: flowering 

 glumes 6-7 mm. long, very short awned. Near Steptoe Butte. 



F- rubra L- Perennial, with short running rootstocks; the whole plant 

 smooth: culms .6-1 m. tall, slender: leaves narrow, involute, 10-20 cm. 

 long: panicle narrow, erect, about 10 cm. long, the short erect branches in 

 twos, spikelet-bearing to the base: spikelets frequently purplish, 10-12 cm. 

 long, 5-6-flowered: flowering glume smooth, 5-6 mm. long, tipped with an 



