66 GRAMINEAE. 



IV2 to 4 in. long, 2 1 /? to 4 lines wide; panicle dense, 1 to 3 in. long, % to 1 in. 

 wide, shining, of a golden color sometimes tinged with purple; branches close, 

 erect, short; pedicels fascicled, somewhat clavate, pubescent, spreading at right 

 angles, the fascicles with a tuft of long, whitish hairs at the base; fertile spike- 

 let about 1 line long; sterile 3 to 4 lines long; bracts very narrow, almost hya- 

 line, about 1 line long; awn from a little below the apex of the bractlet, 3 to 

 1>._. lines long. — (Achyrodes aureum Ktze.) 



A Mediterranean Region species, now abundant in the interior southern 

 portions of the State; within our limits collected only at Eden Vale (J. B. 

 Davy). 



36. POA L. Meadow-grass. 

 Panicle usually open, sometimes dense and spikelike; branches in pairs or 

 y 2 whorls. Spikelets compressed, ovate or lanceolate, 2 to 6 or 9-flowered. 

 Bracts unequal, keeled, awnless; lower 1 to 3-nerved; upper larger, 3-nerved. 

 Rachilla jointed below each bractlet. Bractlet compressed-keeled, herbaceous 

 or membranaceous, with the rachilla and callus often clothed below with 

 webby hairs or pubescent, especially on the dorsal and marginal nerve; apex 

 hyaline; nerves 5 to 7, the intermediate ones often faint; palea 2-fid, nerves 

 2, ciliate. Scales acute. Stamens 3 or (rarely) 2 only. Achene (in ours) 

 mostly free from the bractlet and palea, not furrowed. (Greek poe, grass or 

 herbage, especially that grown as forage for cattle, hence meadow-grass.) 



Panicle open. 



Annual; stems 2 to 12 in. high 1. P. annua. 



Perennial; stems 12 to 36 in. high; rootstock distinctly stoloniferous and running 



2. P. pratensis. 

 Panicle contracted, more or less dense and spikelike; perennials; flowers often dioecious 

 or polygamo-dioecious. 



Rootstock running, long and slender; coast sand-dunes 3. P. douglasii. 



Rootstock tufted, not running. 



Panicle 3 to 4 l / 2 in. long; longest branches 1 to 2 in. long, spikelet-bearing on the 

 upper three-fourths; bracts and bractlets not ciliate on the keels; bunch-grass 



of dry hillsides 4. P. secunda. 



Panicle 2 to 3 in. long; longest branches less than 1 in. long, densely spikelet-bearing 

 almost to the base; bracts and bractlets scabrously ciliate on the keels; moist 

 sandy places on the coast cliffs 5. P. unilatcrahs. 



1. P. annua L. Walk-grass. Annual; stems compressed, weak, geniculate 

 below, 2 to 12 in. high; ligule 1 to 2 lines long; blades bright green, glabrous, 

 1 to 2 lines wide; panicle often 1-sided, 1V> to 3% in. long; branches single 

 or in pairs, rarely in threes, 7 to 12 lines long; spikelets sessile or shortly 

 pedicellate, 2 to 2% lines long, 3 to 7-flowered; bractlets somewhat pilose 

 below. 



Naturalized and widely distributed: Monterey; Berkeley; etc. A very 

 troublesome weed on garden walks, hence the vernacular name; our earliest' 

 flowering grass. Nov.-Apr. 



2. P. pratensis L. Kentucky Blue-grass. Perennial; rootstock dis- 

 tinctly running and stoloniferous; stem and sheaths smooth; panicle open- 

 pyramidal, 3 to 4 in. long; spikelets crowded at the ends of the branches, 

 almosl stssilr, 3 to 5-flowered; bractlets distinctly 5-nerved, webbed at the 



Frequently met with as an escape from lawns: Berkeley. Apr.-May. 

 3. P. douglasii Nees. Sand-grass. Perennial; rootstock slender, widely 

 creeping; stems tnt'ted. 8 in. high; panicle dense, spike-like, ovoid, obtuse, 1 



to - in. long; spikelets 3 to (j lines long; flowers dioecious. 



