36 GRAMINEiE. 



6. P. amethystina Trin. Pukple Canary-gkass, Perennial; 

 stems stout, erect, usually 4 to 8 ft. high, often growing in large 

 clumps; ligule 2 to 3 J lilies long, obtuse; blades 2J to 8 J in. long, 4 to 

 6 lines wide; margins scabrid; peduncle long, slender; thyrse IJ to 

 3| in. long, about f in. broad, ovate or ovoid, usually purplish; 

 spikelets 3 to 3J lines long; bracts strongly keeled but not winged, 

 acute, glabrous except for the scabrid keel; empty bractlets IJ to If 

 lines long, hirsute except on the nerve, which is shining; flower- 

 enclosing bTaetlet 2 to 2J lines long, acuminate, shining, sparsely 

 hairy. 



Moist places in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino Co. southward: 

 San Prancisco; Lake Pilarcitos; Angel Island; Mill Valley and Bear 

 Valley, Marin Co. ; Point Isabel and Berkele}'. Reported also from 

 Bolinas Bay and Napa Valley by Bolander. Apr.-June. 



7. P. arundinacea L. Eeed Cakaky-gkass. Perennial; root- 

 stock creeping; stems stout, erect, usually 3 to 6 ft. high; sheaths 

 scarcely inflated; ligule broad, clasping the stem, about 2 lines long, 

 blades 4 to 12 in. long, 8 to 7 lines wide, smooth; panicle 3 to 6 or 9 

 in. long, often purplish, and much interrupted or lobed; branches 

 few at a node, the lower J to 2 in. long; bracts linear-lanceolate, 

 strongly keeled, scabrid; empty bractlets 2, narrow, hairy, about 

 J the length of the flower-enclosing bractlet; the latter about IJ 

 lines long, acuminate, sub-glabrous and shining. 



Moist places beside streams and sloughs: reported as collected near 

 Sacramento by the Wilkes expedition, Bot. Gal., and at Niles, Behr; 

 Upper Lake, Lake Co. and Bakersfleld, Davy. Beal states that it is 

 often called "Crazy-grass" in the Northwest, as it is thought to be 

 injurious to horses. 



6. ANTHOXANTHUM-L. Sweet Vernal-grass. 

 Leaf-blades flat Panicle cylindrical, spikelike. Spikelets 1- 

 flowered; bracts thin, herbaceous, persistent, keeled, lower 1-nerved, 

 upper about twice its length and 3-nerved; flower perfect, terminal! 

 subtended by 2 empty dorsally awned bractlets which are clothed 

 with brown hair> and are smaller than the bracts; rachilla jointed 

 above the bracts. Flower-enclosing bractlet and palea alike, awnless, 

 smooth, obtuse, at first hyaline, then chartaceous; bractlet enveloping 

 the palea, with 3 very fine nerves; palea narrower, with 1 very fine 

 central nerve or keel. Scales obsolete. Stamens 2; anthers large, 

 yellow. Ovary glabrous; styles long, distinct; stigmas long. (Greek 

 anthos, a flower, xanthos, yellow, in allusion to the yellow tint given 

 to the spikelets by the brightly colored anthers. Becoming fragrant in 

 drying.) 



1. A. odoratum L. Sweet Vernal-grass. Perennial; stems 

 J to 2 ft. high, shining; sheaths furrowed, glabrous or pubescent, 

 hairy at the mouth; blades often spaiingly hairy, 1^- to 6 in. lono-; 

 panicle 1 to IJ (rarely 5) in. long, contracted, sometimes interrupted 

 below; branches very short; spikelets 3 to 4 lines long, sub-sessile 

 often yellowish-green; lower bract ovate, acute, about 2 lines lono- 



