68 GEAMINE^. 



panicula, a tuft or panicle on plants, having reference to the 

 inflorescence.) 



1. P. pauciflora (Presl.) Ktze. Smooth Manna-grass. Stout 

 perennial of fresh-water marshes; rootstock stout, creeping; stems 

 2 to 4 ft. high, stout, sometimes 2J lines in diameter, erect from a 

 decumbent base, rooting at the lower nodes, leafy throughout; leaves 

 about 6; sheaths split to the base, loose, smooth, pale green; ligule 

 broad, obtuse, entire but soon becoming lacerate, 1 to 3J lines long; 

 blade i to 12 in. long, 3 to 7J lines wide, flat, scabrous; panicle 

 lax, narrow, 6 to 8 in. long, pale green; branches in ^ whorls of 2 to 

 5 below, capillary and flexuous, rough, erect, somewhat remote, 

 spikelet-bearing above the middle, the longest about 3J in. long; 

 pedicels short; spikelets oblong, 2 to 3 lines long, 4 to 6-flowered; 

 bracts less than ^ the length of the nearest bractlet; lower 1-nerved, 

 acute; upper rounded, 3-nerved; bractlet about 1 line long, promi- 

 nently 5-nerved, scabrous, with a purplish border below the soarious 

 truncate-obtuse serrulate apex. — (Glyceria pauciflora Presl.) 



A common grass in fresh-water marshes of the Coast Ranges and 

 Sierra Nevada: Lake Pilarcitos; Olema; G-uerneville and northward. 

 Apr.-Aug. 



38. FESTUCA Tourn. Pbsctje-grass. 



Leaves and flowers often rather harsh to the touch. Panicle 

 various, loose and spreading or racemose and sometimes seeund. 

 Leaf-blades often auricled at the base. Spikelets sub-terete, 2 to 

 many (rarely by abortion only l)-flowered. Bracts 2 (rarely only 1),- 

 not equaling the nearest bractlet, membranaceous, acute; lower 

 1-nerved; upper larger, B-nerved. Eachilla jointed below the 

 braotlets. Braotlets not webby, convex, not keeled, chartaceous or 

 nearly coriaceous, 3 to 5-nerved, mucronate or awned at or near the 

 tip, uppermost sometimes empty; palea 2-toothed or 2-fid, nerves 

 hairy. Scales 2, notched or 2-lobed. Stamens 1 to 3. Ovary 

 usually glabrous; styles short, terminal. (Latin festuca, a slender 

 shoot, or straw; also used by Latin writers to designate some 

 straw-like weed.) 



Perenni als. — Eu-Festoca. 

 Awns less than -2 lines long. 

 Stein.s slender, }^ to 3 ft. high; li?ule and auricles glabrous; rootstock 

 tafted, someiimes stoloniferous; lowest bractlet 2J^ to S% lines long. 



1. F. rubra. 

 Stems stout, 3 lo 4 ft. high; ligule and auricles villous . 2. F. Califoniica. 



Awns4 to6 lineslong 8. i? ileniiculata. 



Slender annuals; inflorescence a racemose panicle or raceme; awns 2>4 to 7 

 lines long. — Vulpia. 

 Branches and apilcelcts mostly spreading; the latter 1 to 6-flowered; brncts 



sub-equal, the lower 11^ to 2J^ lines long 4. F. microstachys. 



Branches nnd spikelets erect, appressed; spikelets 6 to 8 (rarely only »)- 



flowered; bracts often very unequal, sometimes sub-equal 



5. F. Myuros. 



1. F. rubra L. Eed Fescue. Rootstock perennial, tufted and 

 sometimes stoloniferous; stems slender, erect, 2 to 2J ft. high, often 



