GEASS FAMILY. 71 



Annnnl. 

 Bractlets 6 to 10; panicle contracted; awns slender, about % in. long; ligule 

 lacerate; panicle dense, obovate-cuneate, 1% to 2i^ in. long; awns 6 to 9 



lines long 2. B. rubem. 



Bractlets 4 to 6; panicle lax; awn stout, rigid, over 1 in. long 



3. B. maximus. 

 Lower bract 5 to 9-nerved. 



Annual; panicle-branches short, erect i. B. hordeaceus. 



Perennial; panicle-branches long, drooping at maturity. 

 Stems 3 to 4 ft. hiah; panicle erect; awn SW to 7 lines long; bracts unpqnal, 



lower 4 to 6, upper 5 to 7 lines long; rachilla pnbescent.5. B. carinatM. 

 Stems IM to 3 it. high; panicle drooping; awn 2 lo 3% lines long; bracts i-ub- 

 equal, about 6 lines long; rachilla pubarulent . .6. B.margtnatus. 



1. B. laevipes Shear. Nodding Bromb. Perennial; stems 

 slender, erect from an arcuate base, 2 to 3 ft. high; sheaths smooth or 

 scabrid; blades flat, scabrid, 2 to 3 lines wide; panicle lax, drooping, 

 5 to 8 in. long; branches bearing few spikelets; spikelets drooping, 

 narrow, subterete, acuminate before anthesis. 12 to 16 lines long, 5 to 

 9-flowered; bracts smooth, 1 to 3-nerved; internodes of rachilla J to 

 IJ lines long; bractlets 5 to 7J lines long, 7-nerved, the alternate 

 nerves longer and more prominent, densely ciliate-pubescent on the 

 margin nearly to the apex, and also on the back near the base; apex 

 nearly flat, entire; awn 1 j to 2J lines long. 



San Pablo Eidge; Briones Hills; Hood's Peak, and northward in 

 the Coast Kanges, in woodlands and among brush. May. 



2. B. rubens L. Bed Brome. Soft, densely tufted, slender 

 annual, 8 to 16 in. high; ligule lacerate, 1 to 2 lines long; panicle 

 obovate-cuneate, IJ to 2J in. long, erect, dense, tinged with reddish- 

 brown, branches bearing 1 to 4 spikelets; spikelets 6 to 9-flowered; 

 lower bract 3 to 5 lines long, lanceolate, 1-nerved, upper 5 to 7 lines 

 long, 3-nerved; bractlets 7-nerved, awn 6 to 9 lines long. 



Naturalized from southern Europe: Miller Canon, Solano Co., 

 Jepson; Briones Hills; Antioch. Apr. -May. 



3. B. maximus Desf. Bkoncho-qka.ss. Annual; stems 1 to 2 ft. 

 high; ligule IJ to 2 or 3 lines long, truncate, lacerate; blades 2 to 3 

 lines wide, flat, bright green, sparsely villous; panicle 5 to 8 in. long, 

 at first erect, then "drooping; lowest whorls 4 to 5-branched; longest 

 branches less than twice the length of the spikelet; spikelets solitary 

 or in pairs, often If in. long excluding the awns, linear-lanceolate, 

 very scabrous, often purplish; bracts scarious except the nerves, very 

 narrow, awn-pointed, 1 to 3-nerved; lower 7 to 10 lines long; upper 

 11 to 14 lines long, long-acuminate; bractlets 4 to 6, thin, 7-nerved, 

 11 to 14 lines long with 2 long, hyaline teeth 2 to 3 lines long; awn 

 1 J to 2 in. or more long, rigid, scabrous, arising from below the teeth ; 

 anthers J line long, yellow. — (B. rigidus Beal, not of Both.) 



Native of the Mediterranean Eegion: naturalized "near the Mission 

 Dolores, in afield under cultivation," Bolander, about 1862; Berkeley. 

 San Francisco; Suisun Marshes; Briones Hills; San Jose; Tulare. 

 Apr.-May. Now one of our most abundant grasses. 



4. B. hordeaceus L. Soft Brome. Annual, erect, 1 to IJ ft. 

 hif'h; whole plant excepting the stems and uppermost sheaths, softly 



