No. 51. 

 SCHIMDTIA SUBTILIS Tratt. Fl. Austr. i. 12 (1816). 



Plant low, spreading, annual. 



Culms geniculate and often branched below, ascending, slender, 1 to 3 inc|ies tall. 



Leaves two or three on each culm; sheaths rather scarious, loose, open above, the 

 upper one vaginate; blades flat or folded, curved backward, smooth, J inch long and 

 1 Hue or less wide; ligule ovate, acute, decurrent, 1 to 2 lines long. 



Inflorescence a rather spreading, interrupted, flexuous panicle ^ to 1 inch long, 

 simple or branched below, with spikelets in umbellate clusters at the nodes of the axis 

 and extremities of the branches, on pubescent pedicels 3 lines long or less. 



Spilcelets 1 -flowered, about £ line long; floral glume lanceolate, acuminate, awn- 

 pointed, thin, membranaceous, except the hispidulous excurrent mi dnerve, Aline long; 

 palet broadly obovate, 2- or 3-lobed or toothed above, about £ line long, thin, mem- 

 branaceous, except the two hispidulous, divergent, slightly excurrent keels; stamens 

 2, with short anthers; ovary elliptical, smooth, £ line long, with 2 feathered stigmas; 

 ripened grain reddish, ^ line long, falling free. 



Plate LI, No. 1; a, spikelet opened slightly; b, floral glume, dorsal view; c, palet, 

 ventral view, half opened. 



Oregon and Washington, in low, muddy land. Too small and scarce to be of any 

 practical value. The. name was changed to Coleanthus subtilis Seid. in E. & S. Syst. 

 ii. 276 (1817), because an older genus Smithia was held to conflict with the use of 

 Schmidtia. The plate was lithographed before the recent changes in nomenclature 

 reinstated the older generic name. 



No. 51. 



PHIPPSIA ALGID A K. Br. Chlor. Melv. 285 (1823). 



Plant low, casspitose or densely tufted, perennial, with abundant, long, fibrous 

 roots. 



Culms branched below, ascending, rather robust, smooth, 3 to 6 inches long. 



Leaves of culm 2 or 3, with loose, open, rather scarious, smooth sheaths nearly 

 equaling the internodes, and flat or folded, obtuse, smooth blades 2 inches or less long; 

 ligule membranaceous, 1 line or less long. 



Inflorescence an oblong, rather closely flowered panicle about 1 inch long; rays 4 

 or 6 in semiverticillate clusters, unequal, ^ inch long or less, erect, divided, and spikelet- 

 bearing near the extremities. 



SpiJcelets obovate, somewhat compressed, 1 -flowered, § line long; empty glumes 

 obtuse, less than ^ line long, caducous; floral glume lance-oblong, obtuse, or barely 

 acute, usually denticulate above, smooth, obscurely 3-nerved, § line long; palet obovate, 

 oblong, obtuse, or more or less 3-lobed above, nearly smooth on the 2 divergent keels; 

 stamens 2; grain broadly elliptical, tuberculate, roughened, about equaling the glumes 

 at maturity. 



Plate LI, No. 2; a, spikelet opened; b, floral glume; c. palet, dorsal view, partly 

 opened. 



Alaska and Arctic America. Its mode of growth in dense masses would indicate 

 that it might form a considerable portion of the forage of the herbivorous animals of 

 the region. 



