MBLiCA GRAMINK^ 751 



DI8TICHU8 



al nerves tielow the middle, 7-9-nerved, 4-6 lines long : palet oblong, obtuse 

 or emdrginate, pubescent on the 2 arched keels, 3-4 lines long. On open 

 ridges in the mountains, Oregon to California. 



Var. minor Vasey, Beal Grasses N. Am, ii, 810. Stems slender, 

 lft-15 inches ^^^ ^'^ct : panicles very simple, l>^-4 inches long : spikelets 

 usually 3-fl6wered. On dry ridges in the Siskiyou Mountains. 



M. ari^tata Thurber, Bolander Proc. Cal. Acad.^iv, 103. Stems slen- 

 dei , tufted, 2-4 feet high : leaves flat, 2-4 inchss long, 3 lines wide : panicle 

 narrow, 6-12 inches long, its branches erect : «pikelets 3-5-flowered, pale or 

 purplish: first empt^ glume oblong, about "^3 lines long ; the 'second about 

 a line longer : flowering glumes about 6 lines long, with a few stiff marginal 

 hairs near the base, very scabrous, the central nerve excurrent just below 

 the bifid tip as an awn S-5 lines long : palet about 3}^ lines long, strongly 

 ciliate at the apex. In mountains, Washington to California. 



H. acuminata Bolander 1. c. 104. Stems slender, erect, 2-3 feet high, 

 with thickened bulbous base : sheaths mostly ec^ualling or shorter than the 

 internodes, more or less pubescent : ligules 1-2 Imes long, laciniate : panicle 

 4-^12 inches long, narrow, the capillary branches erect or barely spreading : 

 spikelets 3-6-flowered, often purplish : first empty glume linear, about 2 

 lines long, much smaller than the acuminalle second one : flowering glumes 

 lanceolaite, long-acuminate about 6 lines long, 5-7-nerved : ciliate on the 

 margins below : palet about half as long as the glume, densely ciliate above, 

 narrowly truncate. In open woods, California to Alaska. 



M. spectabilis Scribn. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1886, 46. A slender tufted 

 stoloniferous perennial: stems about 2^4 febt high,, with a corm at the base 

 of each : sheaths mostly longer than the internodes : ligules white, about 1 

 line long : leaves 3-4, flat or involute, scabrous, 7-10 inches long, 1-2 lines 

 wide : panicle simple, 6-8 inches long, its slender branches solitary or in 

 pairs, sometimes in threes, the longest l}4-2 inches long : spikelets 3-8- 

 nbwered : , empty glumes ovate, obtuse or acute, with transverse nerves 

 near the middle, the first 3-nerved, the second 6-nerved, 2^-3 lines long: 

 flowering glumes 3)^-4 lines long, abruptly tapering, oval,, the apex with 2 

 very short teeth or a notch, 7-9-nervea : palet elliptical, 2}£ lines long. 

 Oregon to Montana and California. 



M. scabrata Scribn. Piper & Beattie Fl. Palouse Beg. 26. Stems 

 mostly solitary, erect, 2-4 feet bigh, with bulbous base : sheaths nearly as 

 long or longer than the internodes, scabrous : leaves flat, linear, 5-7 inches 

 long, 1-2 lines wide, scabrous on both sides : panicle erect, narrow,3-7 inches 

 long, lower branches mostly in threes.the 2 outer short and bearing a single 

 spikelet, ttie central one longer and bearing 2-6 spikelets 5-7-flowered, 

 usually piirple ; lower empty glumes 2)4 lines long, the upper 8>^-4 lines 

 long, acutish: flowering glumes about 3^4 lines long all minutely 

 scabrous. In low meadows about Pullman Washington. 



39 DISTICHLI8 Raf. Journ. Phys. Ixxxix, 104. 



Dioecious grasses with rigid stems, creeping or decumbent at 

 base, flat or convolute leaves, and numerous spikelets in spike- 

 like panicles. Spikelets flattened, more numerous on the stamin- 

 ate pja<jts than on the pistilate, 6-16-flowered. Rachella con- 

 tinuous in the staminate spikelets, articulated; in the pistillate. 

 Two lower glumes empty, narrow, keeled, acute, shorter than the 

 flowering ones. Flowering glumes broader, many-nerved, acute, 

 rigid. Palets 2-keeled. Stamens 3:- 'Styles thickened at the 

 hkse, rather long, distinct. Stigmas long-plumose. Grain free 

 enclosed in the glume and palet. 



