batonia GRAMINE.E 749 



MEL1CA 



£• obtusata Gray Man. ed. 2, 558. Stems often stout, l-2>£ feet high, 

 erect, simple, smooth : sheaths shorter than the internodes, usually more 

 or less rough, sometimes pubescent: ligules %-\ line long: leaves 1-9 

 inches long, 1-4 lines wide, scabrous : panicle 2-6 inches long, dense and 

 usually spike-like, strict, the branches \% inches long or less, erect: spike- 

 lets crowded, 1^-1 K lines long: empty glumes unequal, often purplish, 

 the first narrow, shorter than and about % as wide as the obtuse or almost 

 truncate second one : flowering glumes narrow, obtuse, %-l line long. 

 California to Washington and the Eastern States. 



E. Pennsylvania Gray 1. c. Stems slender, erect, smooth, 1-3 feet 

 high : sheaths shorter than the internodes : ligules % line long : leaves 2-7 

 inches long, 1-3 lines wide, rough: panicle 3-7 inches long, contracted, 

 often nodding, lax, its branches 1-3 inches long : spikelets \%-\% line long, 

 usually numerous, somewhat crowded, and appressed to the branches: 

 empty glumes unequal, the first narrow, shorter than and about % as wide 

 as the obtuse or abruptly acute second one which is smooth or somewhat 

 rough on the keel; flowering glumes narrow, acute, ]% lines long. In 

 moist soil, eastern Washington to the Eastern States. 



38 MELICA L. Sp. 66. 



Tall perennial grasses with flat leaves and contracted or open 

 panicles. Spikelets 1- to several-flowered, often secund, rachella 

 extended beyond the flowers and usually bearing 2-3 empty club- 

 shape hooded scales, convolute around each other. Two lower 

 glumes empty, membranous, 3-5-nerved ; flowering glumes larger, 

 rounded on the back, 7-13 nerved, sometimes bearing an awn, 

 the margins more or less scarious. Palets broad, shorter than 

 the glume, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Style distinct. Stigmas plu- 

 mose. Grain free enclosed in the glume and palet.lj 



§ 1 Eumelica. Empty glumes nearly or quite equalling the 

 flowers. Flowering glumes scarious margined, obtuse and entire 

 at the apex. Sterile flowers clavate, hooded, or like the others, 

 but smaller. 



M. interrupta Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1840, 59. Stems tufted, 

 slender, 1-3 feet high, from strong fibrous roots : leaves narrow, long-acu- 

 minate* from smooth to very scabrous and pilose-pubescent: panicle 8-12 

 inches long, its branches in remote fascicles, very unequal, the lower 1-3 

 inches long: spikelets 5 lines long, minutely scabrous, 1-flowered, with an 

 imperfect floret: first empty glumes 3-nerved, second larger and indistinct- 

 ly 5-nerved: flowering glume acutish, strongly 7-nerved, usually purplish 

 above except the scabrous margins: palet about as long as the glume, 2- 

 toothed : sterile flowers short-pedicelled, % as long as the perfect ones, 

 sometimes enclosing a second one. Oregon to California. 



M. stricta Bolander Proc. Ca!. Acad, iii, 4. Densely tufted, 1-2 feet 

 high, pale green: stems erect, or geniculate below, branched at base, softly 

 pubescent to scabrous: sheaths retrorsely velvety-pubescent, longer than 

 the internodes: ligules about 2 lines long: leaves 3-4 inches long, 1-2 lines 

 wide, flat, or involute toward the rather rigid points, velvety-pubescent on 

 both sides: panicle secund, of 6-12 nodding spikelets, the scabrous branches 

 mostly single, erect, making the panicle appear single : spikelets 5-7 lines 

 long, with 2-3 perfect flowers and rather large rudiments: empty glumes 

 lance-oblong, narrowed below, obtuse or barely acute, thin smooth, 5-nerv- 

 ed, 4-6 lines long, the first slightly shorter; flowering glumes lanceolate, 

 acute, minutely hispid, 7-nerved, '4%-b% lines long : palet obovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, minutely hispid, pubescent on the arched keels. In the high 



