GRASS FAMILY. 79 



ally above; stigmas 2 lines long, sessile or nearly so, remote, feathery. 

 Aehene hairy at the apex. (Diminutive of Latin asper, rough, prickly, referr- 

 ing to the rough, long-awned spike of some species.) 



1. A. californica (Roland.) Beal. California Bottle-brush. Rootstock 

 perennial, stout, creeping; stems stout, leafy, sub-solitary, erect from a de- 

 cumbent base, Zy-2 to (i ft. high; sheaths split to the base, loose, scabrous, 

 those below usually clothed with short, stiff, spreading or reflexed hairs; ligule 

 about 1 line long, obtuse, erose, brown; blade 4 to 14 in. long, \( 2 to 1 in. wide, 

 flat, antrorsely scabrous, especially beneath, shining with a satiny luster; 

 spike 5 to 10 in. long, dense and drooping above, interrupted below, purplish; 

 raehis with scabrous margins; spikelets y 2 to y± in. long, 1 to 3-flowered; 

 rachilla with a prominent callus below each bractlet; bractlet 6 to 7 lines long, 

 5-nerved, the nerves, especially the marginal ones, ciliate-hispid with short, 

 stiff, rather distant, white hairs; awn stout, straight, rough, about 10 lines 

 long; palea membranaceous, prominently keeled, ciliate above; scales 1% lines 

 long, ciliately fringed; anthers 3 lines long, yellow. — (Gymnostichum calif orni- 

 eum Boland. ; Asprella californica Benth.) 



Apparently confined to moist woodlands and thickets in the Redwood belt 

 immediately north and south of San Francisco. Apr.-July. In the young state 

 the plant closely resembles an Elymus, and entirely lacks the ' ' bottle-brush ' ' 

 aspect of its mature state; it can be distinguished, however, by the short, 

 pedicel-like rachilla-base of the spikelets, and the absence of bracts. 



46. HORDEUM L. Barley-grass. 

 Leaf-blades flat. Inflorescence a dense spike, jointed at the nodes and 

 breaking up at maturity, the spikelets remaining attached to the hard, sharp, 

 callus-like internode. Spikelets 1-flowered, in threes at each joint of the raehis; 

 the central sessile, perfect; the lateral, in ours, pedicellate and usually sterile. 

 Bracts often reduced to awns and resembling an involucre around the spike- 

 lets, rigid. Rachilla prolonged beyond the flower as a bristle. Bractlets 

 chartaceous in age, rounded on the back, 5-nerved at the apex, that of the 

 perfect spikelet, and sometimes all, awned. Palea scarcely shorter than its 

 bractlet, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles very short, distinct. Aehene hairy at 

 the summit. (The Latin name for Barley, the typical plant of the genus.) 



Perennial; spike slender; awns appressed; bracts of all the spikelets bristle-like; bractlets 



of the central spikelet 3 to 4 lines long 1. H. nodosum. 



Annuals; spike stout, broad; awns rigid, erect or spreading; bracts not all bristle-like. 



Bracts of the central spikelet strongly pectinate-ciliate; spike 2 to 4 in. long 



2. H. murinum. 



Bracts of the central spikelet not pectinate-ciliate; spike 1 to 2 in. long 



3. H. marititnum. 



1. H. nodosum L. Meadow Barley-grass. Erect perennial; stems % 

 to 3 ft. high; sheaths glabrous, often glaucous; ligule truncate, ]/ A to '•_. 

 line long; blades 2% to 4 lines wide, often deflexed, fiat, scabrous, or scabrid 

 above only; spike 2% to 4 1 / £ in. long, slender, 4 to 5 lines wide, compressed, 

 usually nodding; awns appressed, brown, tinting the whole spike; raehis very 

 brittle; lateral spikelets awnless, staminate or rudimentary, 2% lines Long, 

 or reduced to an empty bractlet; bracts all awnlike, scabrous; bractlet of 

 central spikelet awned, 7 to 9 lines long including the awn; scales 2, ovate, 

 obtuse, hyaline, ciliate above, j _> line long; anthers yellow, ty line long. — 

 (II. pratense Ends.) 



Common by roadsides, in waste places and borders of fields, often occurring 



