42 GEAMINEiE. 



Annual; panicle dense, not distinotlv loted or Interrupted, except below; awns 

 2 to S% lines long 1. P. MompMensia. 



Perennial; panicle mucli interrupted or distinctly lobed; awns about 1 line 

 long . . . . 2. P. littoralis. 



1. P. Monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Tawny Beakd-grass. Annual; 

 rootstock tufted; steins a few inches to 2 or even 3 ft. high, leafy; 

 panicle dense, not distinctly lobed or interrupted except sometimes 

 below, IJ to 4 in. long, often of a tawny tinge; spikelets very 

 numerous, nearly hidden under the slender awns; awns 2 to 3J lines 

 long; bracts soabrid, deeply notched; bractlet truncate-dentate. 



Native of Europe. Abundant throughout the State, especially in 

 moist places: Martinez, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and Point 

 Reyes. Apr.-Aug., or in wet places even to Oct. 



2. P. littoralis Smith. Water Beard-gkass. Perennial; root- 

 stock solitary; stems weak, ascending, geniculate at the lower nodes, 

 1 to 2 ft. high; panicle much interrupted or distinctly lobed, 2 to 5 



■ or rarely 6 in. long, somewhat shining, often purplish; branches in 

 dense whorls, very irregular; spikelets not concealed by the awns; 

 awns about 1 line long; bractlet awned. 



Introduced and common in moist localities along the coast: San 

 Francisco, Berkeley, etc. Apr.-Aug. Closely resembling Agrostis 

 verticillata, but at once distinguished by the presence of awns. 



12. AGROSTIS L. Bent-qkass. 

 Leaf-blades flat. Panicle-branches whorled, often in clusters of 

 several, filiform. Spikelets very numerous, small, IJ to 2 lines 

 long, strictly 1-flowered. Bracts narrow, keeled, acute or acuminate, 

 awnlese or almost awn-pointed, persistent; lower somewhat longer 

 than the upper. Rachilla not distinctly prolonged beyond the inser- 

 tion of the flower, jointed below the bractlet; callus very short, naked, 

 or with a few short hairs. Bractlet mostly shorter than the bracts, 

 very thin,- broad, 3 to 5-nerved, obtuse or truncate and toothed, 

 awnless or with a slender, straight, twisted awn on the back usually 

 much below the apex. Palea rarely more than J the length of the 

 bractlet, often very minute or obsolete. Scales 2, entire, minute. 

 Stamens mostly 3. Styles very short, free; stigmas feathery, 

 f Agrostis, the Greek name for a grass which mules fed on, perhaps 

 derived from agros, a field, having reference to the habitat of some 

 species. ) 



Palea conspicuouSj J^ to 5^ the length of its bractlet. 

 Kootstock stoloniferous; panicle open, 6 to 8 inches long; palea ^ to }4 shorter 



than its bractlet . . . . 1. A. alba 



var. slolmvifera. 

 Rootstock not stoloniferous; panicle interrupted but dense, \yi to 4 in. long; 



palea about equaling its bractlet 2. A. verticillata. 



Palea obsolete, or, if present minute. 

 Rootstock tufted, not at all stoloniferous; panicle dense and rigidly erect; 

 spikelets 1 line long. 

 Panicle narrowly oblong, dense, 2 to 4 in. long, 6 to 9 lines wide; bractlet 



awned; awn about 1 line long 3. ^. dm«iflm-a. 



Panicle linear, 4 to 6 in. long, 8 to 4 lines wide; bractlet awnless 



4. A. asper\ 



