54 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY 01 SCIENCES. 



II II Wings persistently attached to the racJiis for tlicir whole 

 length ; perennial by tuber bearing root stocks. 



7. Cjrpenis esculentus, Linn. Sp. PI. 45. Britt and Br. 111. 

 Fl. l:2-il. C. phjonatodes, 3Inhl. Gram. 23. Watson. Bot. Cal. 

 2:215. 



Culms stont. 3-8dni. tall: leaves about 5mm. wide, shorter 

 than the culms, those of the inyolucre usually 4, the longest ex- 

 ceeding the rays; umbel 7-10-rayed, often compound, the rays 

 up to 1dm. long : spikelets numerous in loose, spreading spikes. 

 5-20mm. long. 10-20-tiowered ; scales yello^Yish broTm. ovate 

 subacute, several nerved, 4mm. long : Tvings narrow, shorter 

 than the achene. only the pointed tip at length free : achenes 

 oblong-obovoid. 1-1. 5mm. long, mucronulate at the obtuse sum- 

 mit. 



In dry, sandy soil along streams, or a weed in cultivated 

 grounds. Apparently of wide range in the cismontane region 

 below 1,000 feet altitude, but not abundant. Los Angeles: 

 630, 671 Braunton. Tia Juana : 961 Alderson. San Bernar- 

 dino : 2227 Parish. Cosmopolitan, and perhaps not indigenous 

 in our region. 



ft Spikelets narrow, subterete, readily detached fro7n the axis 

 of the spike, the lowest pair of scales persisting ; wings broad, 

 scarious, wholly adnate to- the rachis, and loosely embracing the 

 achene; stamens ^ ; annuals. 



v 8. Cypems speciosus, Yahl, Enum. 2 :364. Britt. and Br. 

 lU. Fl. 1 :242. C. Michauxianus, Schultes. Mant. 2 :123. Watson 

 Bot. Cal. 2 :215. 



Culms l-5dm. tall; leaves rough-margined, 4-6mm, wide, 

 not exceeding the culms, those of the involucre longer than the 

 rays : umbel usually crowded, compound, the rays few and short, 

 not greatly unequal : spikelets narrowly linear. 5cm. long, in an 

 oblong spike : scales ovate, subacute. 2mm. long, pale or green- 

 ish, with bro^vn margins : achenes pale, oblong-ovoid, half the 

 length of the scale. 



Temescal ; Xevin. Los Angeles River : 578 Braunton. David- 

 son. New England to Florida, west to Nebraska. Texas and 

 Southern California. 



9. Cs^enis longispicatiis, Norton.. Trans. St. Louis Acad. 

 12 :37, \.h. Small. Fl. S. E. U. S. 1321. C. ferox, Watson. Bot. 

 Cal. 2 :216, not Yahl. 



Culms 3-5dm. tall : leaves 1-1. 5cm. wide, strongly channeled, 

 rough on the edges, shorter than the culms, those of the invol- 

 ucre 4-6, as long as the rays, or longer : umbel compound, loose 

 and spreading, as are the short spikes, the primary ra^'s 6-10, 

 3-8cm. long, or the umbel condensed or pseudocapitate : spikelets 



