5G GRAMINEAE. 



hairy, at least at the top; style3 short, distant. (A vena, the old Latin name 

 for Oats.) 



Awn short or often obsolete, not geniculate; bractlet 7-nerved, glabrous or with a few 



long hairs at the base 2. A. sativa. 



Awn 10 to 24 lines long, geniculate. 



Bractlet acute but not awn-pointed, 9-nerved, the 2 marginal nerves fine, sometimes 



not continued to the apex 1. A. fatua. 



Bractlet acuminate, awn-pointed, 7-nerved 3. A. barbata. 



1. A. fatua L. Wild Oats. Stems stoutish, 2 to 3% ft. high; ligule short, 

 lacerate; blades long and broad, scab rid; panicle 6 to 14 in. long; branches 

 few at a node, very unequal, long and filiform; spikelets drooping, 2 to 3 

 (rarely only 1) -flowered, broad; bracts subequal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 10 to 

 12 lines long excluding the awn, 9 to 11-nerved; bractlet less than 10 lines 

 long, acute, 2-fid, 3% lines wide, firm, thinly hairy with usually yellowish 

 hairs, especially below, brown, 9-nerved; that of the uppermost flower sub- 

 glabrous; awn from near the middle of the bractlet, stout, 10 to 20 lines 

 long, geniculate; palea about 7 lines long, and 1% wide, with short diver- 

 gent hairs on the nerves. 



Not uncommon in the Bay region: San Jose; Mt. Hamilton; Danville; 

 Livermore. May-Aug. Var. glabrescens Coss. Bastard Oats, is distin- 

 guished by having the bractlet naked except for a few short hairs at the 

 base, and sometimes a thin pubescence along the margins, in which it 

 approaches A. sativa; from the latter it may be distinguished by the longer 

 and geniculate awn and the wider 9-nerved bractlet. — San Bernardino; San 

 Jose; Berkeley. 



2. A. sativa L. Common Oats. Near to A. fatua, but distinguished by 

 its usually shorter stature, by the 7-nerved bractlet being glabrous (or bearing 

 a few long hairs at the base), and by the often short, straight awn which is 

 sometimes obsolete. 



An escape in the borders of fields and by the roadside. 



3. A. barbata Brot. Barbed Oats. Stems slender, erect, 2 to Zy 2 ft. 

 high; uppermost ligule 1 to 1% lines long, broad, obtuse, truncate, irregularly 

 notched; blades 1 to 3% lines broad, scabrous on both surfaces; panicle usually 

 6 to 12 in. long, shorter in dry localities and seasons; branches few at a node, 

 very unequal, long and filiform; spikelets 2 to several-flowered, narrow and 

 slender; bracts subequal, oval-lanceolate, setaceous-pointed, 10 to 12 lines 

 long, with 7, 9 or 11 broadly green-margined nerves; margins scarious, shin- 

 ing; bractlet 10 to 12 lines long, including the long, slender, awn-pointed 

 teeth, 2% lines wide, lanceolate, membranaceous, clothed with soft, silky, 

 usually white hairs, 7-nerved; awn from near the middle of the bractlet, 

 stout, geniculate, 11 to 20 lines long; palea 6*4 lines long, 1 line wide, with 

 short divergent hairs on the nerves; anthers 1% lines long; ovary densely 

 hairy with long, white, silky, erect hairs. 



A montane species, native of S. Europe ami naturalized extensively in Cali- 

 fornia in the Coast Range hills, and Southern California: San Jose, Lake 

 Merced, Olema, Angel Island, Livermore, Berkeley. Feb. -Aug. Often mis- 

 taken for A. fatua, from which it may be distinguished without difficulty, 

 when once known, by its more Blender inflorescence ami spikelets. 



21. ARRHENATHERUM Beam. 

 Perennial, usually tall grasses. Leaf-blades tlat. Spikelets terete, strictly 

 l' flowered; rachilla jointed between the dowers, often hairy, prolonged beyond 

 the insertion of i he uppermost bractlet as a short point or bristle; lower 



