GRASS FAMILY. 77 



lines long excluding awns, 3 to 4 -flowered ; bracts lanceolate, 4 to 6 lines 

 long, acuminate or awn-pointed, with 2 to 4 prominent scabrid nerves; bract- 

 lets scabrid above, 5-nerved, lowest 4 1 /? to 6 lines long, tapering into a straight, 

 erect, scabrid awn 3% to 7 lines long; palea 4% to 5 lines long, scabrid, 

 slightly emarginate; scales V- 2 to 1 line long, lanceolate, acute, toothed on one 

 side or the margins regularly curved, sparingly ciliate; anthers nearly li/> 

 lines long, purplish; achene -V-> to 3 lines long. 



Thickets on open hillsides along the coast, common within our limits: San 

 Francisco; Pt. Eeyes; Berkeley. June-July. Var. breviaristatus Davy. 

 Bracts 6 to 9 lines long; awn of the bractlet to 3 lines long. — Pt. Reyes; 

 Bodega Pt. June-July. Var. jepsonii Davy. Lowest leaves retrorsely 

 pubescent. Napa Valley. Var. tenuis Vasey, is much more slender in every 

 way; spikes 1% to - 1 L . lines wide. — Sacramento Valley. May. Var. maximus 

 Davy. Tall and stout; leaf-blades 5% to 8% lines wide, sometimes glabrous in 

 age; spike 7 in. long, 4 lines wide, slightly drooping above; spikelets 

 mostly 6-flowered; bracts 7 to 9 lines long, often 5-nerved; awn of the bractlet 

 very variable, 4 to 12 lines long. — Napa Valley; Bodega Pt. 



6. E. hispidulus Davy. Hispid Wild-rye. Rootstock stoloniferous; stem 

 erect from a more or less arcuate base, about 3 ft. high, rooting and branch- 

 ing from the lowest nodes; lowest sheaths scabrid, uppermost retrorsely hispid- 

 ulous; ligule of uppermost leaves entire, rounded, about 1 line long; blades 

 narrower than the sheath, auricled at the base, scabrid on both surfaces and 

 sparsely pubescent below, 1% to 4 lines wide, 6 to 7 in. long; spike 4% in. 

 long excluding awns, 5 lines wide ; spikelets in pairs, ascending, not closely 

 appressed, 4 to 6-flowered, the longest 10 lines long excluding awns; lowest 

 internode of the rachilla about 1 line long, pubescent; bracts 5y 2 lines long, 

 lanceolate-subulate, awn-pointed, 3-nerved, scabrous; lowest bractlet 7 lines long 

 with an awn its own length, hispidulous above, 5-nerved, palea % line shorter, 

 pubescent and emarginate above, scabrid on the keels; scales % to 1 line 

 long, pubescent and ciliate, unevenly lobed near the base on one side only; 

 anthers 1% lines long. 



Olema, Marin Co. Near to E. glaucus var. jepsonii, differing in the longer 

 and rounded ligule, the hispidulous clothing to the sheaths which is less abun- 

 dant on the lowest than on those above, and the hispidulous bractlets. 



7. E. divergens Davy. Divergent Wild-rye. Perennial; rootstock short, 

 very stout and woody, not stoloniferous; stems stout, erect, 2 to 2 1 /-> ft. high; 

 sheaths densely, or the uppermost sparsely, antrorsely pubescent; ligule V-i 

 line long, regularly truncate; blades flat or becoming involute, 2% to 3^ 

 lines wide, pubescent on both surfaces or the uppermost glabrous on the lower 

 surface; those of the lowest cauline * leaves about 12 in. long, those of the 

 uppermost 2 1 /, to 4 in. long; peduncle glabrous; spike 4 to 6 in. long, slender; 

 rachis slender, continuous; spikelets in pairs, sessile, few-flowered; bracts 

 broad, acuminate-pointed, */> in. long, and y. 2 line wide at the middle, channeled ; 

 bractlet 5 lines long, excluding its awn, scabrid; awn 6 to 12 lines long, 

 scabrous, hygroscopic, very divergent when dry, straight and erect when moist; 

 palea 4 to 5 lines long, truncate, scabrous on the margins; achene 3 lines long. 



Petaluma; dry bushy hillsides, Pt. Reyes. 



8. E. angustifolius Davy. Narrow-leaved Wild-rye. Slender, erect per- 

 ennial, forming low, leafy tufts; rootstock apparently not stoloniferous; stems 

 erect from a more or less arcuate base, 1% to 2% ft. high, smooth, rooting 

 and branching freely at the lowest nodes; uppermost sheaths glabrous, Lowest 



