44 GRAMINE^. 



awn about 1 line long; palea obsolete or minute; stamens 3. — (A. 



mucronata Thurb. in Bot. Cal.; A. densiflora var. arenaria Vas.) 



Along the coast from Santa Cruz to Port Bragg; moist sandy 



places on the cliffs, mouth of Bear Valley, Marin Co. July-Aug. 



4. A. asperifolia Trin, Northekk Eed-top. Annual; stems 

 stiffly erect, tufted, stout, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high; sheaths minutely 

 scabrid, margins scabrous; ligule 1 to 2 lines long, truncate or 

 obtuse, more or less decurrent; blades 3 to 6 in. long, 1 J to 2J lines 

 wide, acuminate or acute, scabr-ous; panicle shortly exserted, linear, 

 interrupted below, lobed and dense above, 4 to 6 in. long, 3 to 4 lines 

 wide; branches crowded, erect, densely whorled and some at each 

 node densely spikelet-bearing from the base, the longest f to IJ in. 

 long and naked below; spikelets IJ to IJ lines long; bracts sub-equal, 

 narrow, acuminately 1-nerved, scabrous only on the nerve; callus 

 with a tuft of minute hairs at the base of each margin of the bract- 

 let, or apparently naked; bractlet f line long, glabrous, minutely 

 toothed at the apex, faintly nerved, awnless; palea obsolete or 

 minute; stamens 3. — (A. exarata Thurb. in Bot. Cal., in part.) 



Apparently near to A. densiflora, but at once distinguished from 

 it by the taller stem, longer and narrower leaves and panicle, and the 

 absence of awns. Common in the San Francisco Bay Eegion in salt- 

 marshes and other wet places: N. Berkeley; Lake Pilarcitos; Baden; 

 San Francisco; Martinez. June. 



5. A. Diegoensis Vasey. San Dikgo Bent-gkass. Kootstock 

 perennial, slender, stoloniferous ; stems slender, erect, 2 to 2J ft. 

 high; sheaths minutely scabrid; ligule 3 to 4 lines long, sparingly 

 serrate, decurrent; blades 2J to 7 in. long, 1 line wide, antrorsely 

 scabrous especially on the margins; panicle narrow, lax, well 

 exserted, 2J to 5 in. long; branches erect, the longest IJ to 3 in. 

 long, all but the longest spikelet-bearing to near the base; spikelets 

 1 J lines long; bracts acute, sub-equal, scabrid; callus with a prominent 

 tuft of hairs about J lines long, at the base of each margin of the 

 bractlet; bractlet awnless, IJ to IJ lines long, scabrid especially on 

 the margins above, emarginate or shortly 2-fid, and 4-toothed, 

 prominently 5-nerved, the mid-nerve not reaching the apex; palea 

 minute or obsolete; stamens 3; anthers 1 line long, purplish. 



Abundant in the shade of bushes on dry hillsides of the Coast 

 Eanges from San Diego to Sonoma Co.: Berkeley hills; Hood's 

 Peak; Olema; Point Reyes. June-Aug. One of our most abundant 

 native grasses. 



13. GASTRIDIUM. Beauv. 

 Erect annual. Leaf-blades flat. Panicle spike-like, contracted, 

 cylindric-fusiform, shining. Spikelets small, 1-flowered. Bracts 

 much exceeding the bractlet, the lower much the longer, shining, 

 gibbous at the base, keeled above, acute or awn-pointed. Eachilla 

 prolonged beyond the insertion of the flower. Bractlet and palea 

 equal, alike, minute, hyaline, shortly stipitate and with a tuft of 

 very minute hairs at the base; bractlet truncate, toothed, with or 



