722 GRAMlNfi^E hierochloe 



COLEANTHUS 



8 HIEROCHLOE Gmelin Fl. Sib. i, 101. 



Panicle loose and spreading. Spikelets laterally compressed, 

 3-flowered, the 2 lower or lateral ones staminate, the upper or 

 central one perfect. Glumes 5, the first and second about equal, 

 acute, glabrous; the third and fourth somewhat shorter, obtuse, 

 entire, emarginate, 2-toothed or 2-lobed with or without an awn, 

 enclosing a palet and stamens ; the fifth often produced into a 

 short awn, enclosing a palet and perfect flower. Stamens 3 in 

 the staminate flowers, 2 in the perfect one. Styles distinct. Stig- 

 mas plumose. Grain free, enclosed by the glume. 



H. macrophylla Thurber: Bolander in Trans. Cal. Agr. Soc. 1864-65, 

 132. Stems 1-3 feet high forming large loose tufts, with leaves 12-18 inches 

 long by 4-10 lines wide, rough on the upper surface and margins: panicle 

 with rather distant branches m pairs: glumes greenish along the very distinct 

 nerves, obtuse and barely equalling the staminate flowers, the lower palets 

 of which are stronghly fringed on the margins, notched at the apex and often 

 with a slight mucro or awn: perfect flower pubescent toward the apex, other- 

 wise smooth and shining: the flowering glume very obtuse and fringed on the 

 margins. In forests, western Washington to California. 



H. borealis R. & S. Syst. ii, 513. Stems 1-2 feet high, erect simple, 

 smooth: lower leaves elongated, 4-8 inches long, 1-3 lines wide, scabrous, 

 the upper ones %-2 inches long: panicle 2-4 inches long, its branches 1-2 

 inches long, usually spreading, naked below: spikelets yellowish -brown and 

 purple, 2-3 lines long: lower glumes glabrous; flowering glumes villous and 

 strongly ciliate, entire, awn-pointed: palets villous at the apex. Along 

 streams, Oregon to Alaska and the northern Atlantic States. 



Tribe V Agrostidese. Spikelets all hermaphrodite, one-flowered, 

 with one pair of empty glumes, or these rarely wanting , usually as 

 long as or exceeding the Howering glumes. Rachella sometimes pro- 

 longed behind the palet into a naked or plumose bristle. 



9 COLEANTHUS Seidel Reichenb. Incon. Fl. Germ, i, 177. 



Panicles simple or branched, the flowers in umbellate clusters 

 of short 1-flowered rayc. Empty glumes wanting : flowering 

 glume membranous, 1-nerved, acuminately awned. Palet shorter 

 than the glume, with 2 divergent nerves, keeled, bifid at the apex, 

 the divisions acuminate: scales none. Stamens 2, with oblong 

 anthers. Ovary sessile, smooth. Stigmas sessile, denticulate 

 with subulate hairs. Grain oblong, somewhat longer than the 

 glumes which are persistent and surround its base. 



C. subtilis Seidel 1. c. Stems slender, 1-3 inches long, forming loose 

 tufts 1-4 inches in diameter, decumbent and geniculate below, often branch- 

 ed, from an annual root: leaves about 6 lines long, curved, smooth: ligule 

 elongated, acute; sheaths all inflated: panicle 6-18 lines long, its base includ- 

 ed in the upper sheath, mostly simple, with 3-4 umbellate clusters, sometimes 

 with one or two short branches with an umbel at the end of each: pedicels 

 longer than the spikelets, scabrous, glumes roughened on the keel. On low 

 muddy flats along the Columbia river; also in northern Europe. 



10 SPOROBOLUS R. Br. Prodr. Fl Hoi. i, 169. 



Panicle open and pyramidal to narrow and spike-like. Spike- 



