54 



inflorescence on a very short peduncle in the leaf axils ; 

 spathe about firu long, rather narrow, bursting into two 

 valves or irregularly soon disintegrating. Flowers minute, 

 very numerous on a slender rbachis nearly as long as the 

 spathe, each flower on a slender deciduous pedicel, parting 

 from the rhachis when mature, rising to the surface of the 

 water and there opening. Perianth 3 lobed about ■$■ to i line 

 diameter, the lobe not opposite a stamen narrower than the 

 other two. Stamens 2, filaments combined in a very short 

 column surrounded at the base by a ring of hairs, and bearing 

 at the base two rudimentary staminodes. Anthers bilocular, 

 but the walls destroyed upon dehiscence. 



Female spathe about lin. long, narrow, bursting as in the 

 male, but rather more persistent, on a long peduncle that is 

 usually but not always coiled when young. Ovary about lin. 

 long. Perianth lobes 3, broad, obtuse 1| to 2 lines long, 

 stigmas 3 broad, opposite the perianth lobes, each divided to 

 the base. Staiminodia none. Capsule much enlarged, its 

 peduncle not recoiling after fecundation in the very numerous 

 plants examined. 



Jordan Eiver above Bridgewater. Flowering in February. 



Stipa pubescens, E. Br., is one of our widest spread native 

 grasses, and its variability is about as wide as its distribu- 

 tion. Its type and the forms running absolutely into 8. 

 semibarbata, R. Br., are well known, but we have a form 

 common in dry, stony, hilly country that departs considerably 

 in habit from any form I have seen described. The stems 

 arise from a persistent hard slowly spreading base as we 

 usually find in the type, but they are nearly glabrous, and 

 develop no leaves beyond the sheaths, and the sheaths and 

 their insignificant lamina? turn dry and pale as soon as 

 elongated, giving the plant a very distinct appearance. The 

 details of the plant otherwise do not differ from accepted 

 forms of 8. pubesceous, but its habit makes it sufficiently 

 marked to warrant its being treated as a variety as Stipa 

 pubesceous, var. aphylla. 



