1 8 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Hitchcock in the Robinson and Fernald Gray's New Manual 

 in 1908, presented ten species and one variety for the territory 

 commonly embraced in the Manual region, presenting M. foliosa 

 Trinius, for the first time, this having been previously restored 

 by Scribner,' and to it he referred M. ambigua Torrey, which I 

 am inclined to think is a good species. Al. Mexicana is there said 

 to have the culms retrorsely strigose below the nodes, and to have 

 the lemmas acuminate or awned, thus including the M. Mexicana 

 commutaTa of Scribner in his description. It appears to me much 

 better to consider Scribner' s variety a distinct species, and thus 

 relieve the real M. Mexicana of much uncertainty. Hitchcock 

 also includes M. polystachya of Mackenzie and Bush in M. 

 Mexicana, which after an examination of a number of specimens 

 I still consider distinct from that species. He reduces M. palusTris 

 to a variety of M. schreberi, a disposition once made by Scribner,^ 

 but it seems more natural to keep this distinct from that species. 

 The description of M. Schreberi is so drawn as to include M. 

 Schreberi curtisetosa of Scribner, which seems to me to be 

 sufficiently distinct to recognize as a species. M. glabriflora 

 of Scribner is not mentioned in the Manual, Hitchcock evidently 

 not understanding this species. 



Nash in the Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora, second edition, 

 in 19 13, presents eleven species, ten of these given by Hitchcock 

 in the Manual, and one other, M. ambigua Torrey. In the treat- 

 ment of the species in this work, Nash gives specific rank to M. 

 PALUSTRIS and M. ambigua, refers M. foliosa of Trinius to M. 

 Mexicana, ignores M. polystachya of Mackenzie and Bush, 

 and M. Schreberi curtisetosa, and briefly mentions M. glabri- 

 flora which seems to me to be an excellent species. In his description 

 of the Mexicana group, Nash does not speak of the retrorsely 

 scabrous character of the culms just below the nodes of some 

 of the species, evidently thinking this character not worthy of 

 mention. 



Many years ago Prof. Dewey wrote the account of the Grasses 

 for the Manual of the Plants of Western Texas, ^ in which the ranges 

 of some of our species is given, no doubt based on specimens in the 

 Herbarium of the Department of Agriculture. The ranges given 

 of several of our species in this work has been modified largely by 



\ Scribner, Rhodora 9:18. 1907. - Scribner, Rhodora gnS. 1907. 



■'' Dewey, Man. of the Plants of Western Texas, 1892. 



