GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 425 



cent; ligule a ciliate fringe : panicle 3 to 6 inches long, the lower rays distant in 

 pairs ; spikelet 4 to 6-flowered : flowering glume 5-nerved, rough, with a narrow 

 scarious margin, pointed, or with an awn a line long or less. — F. Thurberi, Vasey. 

 Melica Hallii, Vasey, is an alpine form. In the Rocky Mountains and 

 westward. One of the most valuable of the numerous " Bunch Grasses." 



45. BEOMUS, L. Brome Grass. 



Coarse grasses, with large spikelets at length drooping, on pedicels thick- 

 ened at the apex. Our indigenous species are perennials. 



# Flowering glume convex or keeled on the back: flowers imbricated over one 

 another before expansion : lower glume 3 to 5-nerved, the upper 3 to 9-nerved. 1 



1. B. Kalmii, Gray, var. Porteri. Stem 12 to 18 inches high, smootli : 

 sheaths and leaves minutely scabrous : panicle 6 inches long, compound, branches 

 minutely downy ; spikelets an inch long, canescent with short oppressed silkij 

 hairs, 7 to 9-flowered : outer glumes each 3-nerved, obtuse : flowering glume 

 7-nerved; its awn 1£ lines long. — Colorado, at Twin Lakes {Porter), Buffalo 

 Peaks, and Sierra Madre Range ( Coulter). 



2. B. breviaristatus, Thurb. Stem 2 to 3 feet high : leaves broadly lin- 

 ear, a little hairy ; sheaths hairy to villose-tomentose, sometimes even naked : 

 panicle elongated, 3 to 8 inches long, nearly simple, loose; spikelets about 

 an inch long, lanceolate, compressed and sharply 2-edged, minutely scabrous, 



6 to 8-flowered : outer glumes acute, lower about 5-nerved, upper 9-nerved : 

 flowering glume acutely keeled, 9-nerved, with an awn 1 to 2 lines long. — 



Ceratochloa breviaristata, Hook. Prom Colorado northward to Montana and 

 Washington. 



# * Flowering glume somewhat convex, but keeled on the back: flowers soon sepa 



rating from each other: tower glume 1-nerved, the upper 3-nerved, or with an 

 obscure additional pair. 



3. B. ciliatus, L. Tall, 3 to 5 feet high, with the large leaves smooth 

 or somewhat hairy ; sheaths often hairy or densely downy near the top : pani- 

 cle compound, very loose, the elonga*ed branches at length drooping ; spikelets 



7 to 12-flowered: flowering glume tipped with an awn £ to J its length, 

 7-nerved, silky with appressed hairs near the margins, smooth or smoothish 

 on the back. — Across the continent and far northward. 



46. AGROPYEUM, Beauv. 



Perennials, with nearly lanceolate glumes, and 2-ranked spikes ; thus differ- 

 ing from Triticum (Wheat), although formerly included under that genus. 



# Multiplying by long jointed creeping rootstocks: awn, when present, not longer 



than the flowering glume. 

 1. A. repens, Beauv. Stems 1 to 3 feet high : leaves flat or convolute 

 and with sheaths very variable, from smooth to scabrous or pubescent : spike- 



i The too common "Cheat" or "Chess," B. secalinus, L., belongs to this section. It is 

 an annual, with spreading panicle, oblong-ovate turgid smooth spikelets of 8 to 10 rather 

 distant flowers, flowering glume short-awned or awnless, and nearly .glabrous sheaths. — 

 Introduced wherever grain is cultivated. 



