121 



"In 1915 a grass-garden was established at this station. Many 

 of the grass-samples for this purpose were secured for us by a 

 seedhouse. Some of these samples came from various points 

 in Europe. The Scleropoa rigida occurred as an impurity in one 

 of these samples. We have no means of knowing where the 

 sample originated. Only one plant of this grass appeared, but 

 the seed was collected and the grass propagated for a year or 

 two. This grass can be propagated only with difficulty and 

 never gave evidence of persisting on its own account. Several 

 specimens of this plant have been preserved in our herbarium." 



It is evident from the above that the Brookings plant never 

 rose above the status of a waif, and could not be regarded as a 

 part of the local flora. The station at Salem seems therefore to 

 represent the farthest point inland at which the grass has estab- 

 lished itself in the United States. How it came here remains 

 unexplained, as there does not appear to have been any storage 

 of foreign goods in the building where it w^as first found. 



The European native range of the grass seems to be limited 

 to the Mediterranean region from southern France to Monte- 

 negro, with an outlying area in Belgium; but it has spread widely 

 through southern and central Europe as a naturalized plant, 

 according to Hackel even reaching England. 



In general habit the grass attracts instant notice by its very 

 rigid open panicle, which suggests that of Festuca elatior on a 

 small scale, but with a stiff, unyielding effect which gives a certain 

 resemblance to the fertile frond of various dimorphic ferns 

 {e.g., Crypto gramma acrostichoides) . In general it would be 

 taken for a Festuca by one encountering it for the first time; 

 and as a matter of fact, the genus stands taxonomically very 

 close to Festuca, from which it appears to differ chiefly in its 

 punctiform hilum. Its exact relationship has been a matter 

 of very various interpretation. Linnaeus, who first described 

 it (Cent. PI. i: 5.1755) placed it in Poa. There is no evidence 

 that he had a specimen before him, and his description appears to 

 be based on a plate by Vaillant. Beauvois (Agrost. 167, 175. 

 1812) transferred the species to Megastachya, a genus no longer 

 maintained; Link (Enum. i : 90. 1821) placed it in Sclerochloa, 



