46 GRAMINEAE. 



3. A. geniculatus L. Water Fox-tail. Perennial; stems procumbent 

 and rooting from the lower nodes, then ascending 1 to 1% ft., smooth; sheaths 

 smooth, upper Inflated; ligule 1 to iy> lines long; blades % to 1% lines 

 wide; panicle slender, dense, cylindrical, obtuse, % to 1 in. long; branches 

 very short, with often only 1 spikelet; spikelets 1 to IVo lines long, truncate; 

 bracts silky, especially on the keel, obtuse, broadly scarious; bractlet glabrous; 

 margins united % way up; awn about 2 lines long, exserted % its length; 

 anthers purplish. * 



Naturalized, wet meadows, ditches, and marshy or springy places: Bear 

 Valley (J. B. Davy). Apr.-Sept. Var. aristulatus Torr. Wild Water Fox-tail, 

 is said to differ mainly in being glaucous; sheaths more inflated; blades broad- 

 er; panicle longer (often 2 in.) and paler, and the bracts still more obtuse; awn 

 very short, barely exserted, inserted near the middle of the bractlet; anthers 

 shorter, yellow, oblong. — In wet places, apparently indigenous. Keported from 

 the Klamath Marshes and Marin Co. 



11. POLYPOGON Desf. Beard-grass. 

 Stems solitary or tufted, decumbent at base. Blades flat. Panicle con- 

 tracted. Spikelets 1-flowered, rarely exceeding a line in length, jointed on 

 the pedicel below the bracts so that these fall away with the flower at 

 maturity. Bracts sub-equal, keeled, bifid or notched, with a terminal straight 

 awn at or below the apex, 1-nerved, deciduous. Bractlet awned or not; palea 

 smaller, 2-nerved. Scales 2, falcate, entire, as long as the ovary. Stamens 3; 

 anthers small. Ovary glabrous; styles short, free; stigmas long, feathery. 

 (Greek polus, many, pogon, beard, referring to the numerous awns; these give 

 a bristly appearance to the inflorescence.) 



Annual; panicle dense, not distinctly lobed or interrupted, except rarely below; awns 

 2 to 3/ 2 lines long 1. P. monspeliensis. 



Perennial; panicle much interrupted or distinctly lobed, almost throughout; awns about 

 1 line long 2. P. littoralis. 



1. P. monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Tawny Beard-grass. Annual; rootstock 

 tufted; stems a few inches to 2 or even 3 ft. high, leafy; panicle dense, not 

 distinctly Lobed or interrupted except sometimes below, 1% to 4 in. long, often 

 of a tawny tinge; spikelets very numerous, nearly hidden under the slender 

 awns; awns 2 to 3% lines long; bracts scabrous, deeply notched; bractlet trun- 

 cate-dentate. 



Native of Europe. Abundant throughout the State, especially in moist 

 places: Martinez, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Point Reyes. Apr.- Aug. 

 or Oct. 



2. P. littoralis Smith. Water Beard-grass. Perennial; rootstock solitary ; 

 stems weak, ascending, geniculate at the Lower nodes, 1 to 2 ft. high; panicle 

 much interrupted or distinctly lobed, 2 to 5 or rarely <> in. long, somewhat shin- 

 hil;-. often purplish; branches in dense whorls, very irregular; spikelets not 



concealed by tin- awns; awns l'._. to ."> lines long; bractlet awned. 



[ntroduced and common in moist localities along the coast: San Francisco, 

 Berkeley, etc. Apr. Aug. Closely resembling Agrostis verticillata bu1 at once 



distinguished by the presence of awns. 



12. AGROSTIS L. Bent-obass. 

 Leaf-blades flat. Panicle-branches whorled, often b clusters of several. 

 filiform, spikelets very numerous, small. l'_. to 2 lines long, strictly 1-flowered. 

 Bracts narrow, not prominently keeled, acute or acuminate, awnless or almost 



