No.' 62. 

 MELICA BROMOIDES Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. viii. 409 (1873). 



Plant perennial, tufted, bulbous at the base. 



Culms erect, simple, slender, smooth, 2 to 4 feet tall. 



Leaves of culm 4 to 6 ; sheaths retrorsely scabrid, close, half open at the throat, 

 mostly shorter than the internodes; blades flat or loosely involute, scabrid above, 

 slender-pointed, 1£ to 4 lines wide, 6 to 12 inches long; ligule membranaceous, round- 

 ish obtuse, about 1 line long-. 



Inflorescence, a loose, erect, or somewhat flexuous panicle, often secund, 6 to 10 

 inches long; rays mostly in twos at the 6 to 8 rather distant nodes of the scabrous 

 common axis, 3 inches long or less, bearing pedicellate spikelets beyond the middle or 

 scattered throughout. 



Spikelets lanceolate, compressed, rather loosely 4- to 6-flowered, 6 to 9 inches long; 

 empty glumes ovate, acute, smooth, membranaceous above, purple below, the first 

 3-nerved at base, 2 to 3 lines long, the second 1 line longer and 5-nerved below; floral 

 glume broadly lanceolate, usually unequally 2-toothed or emarginate, scarious-margiued 

 above, minutely scabrid, 7-nerved, 4 to 5 lines long; palet lance-oblong, nearly acute 

 at the apex, pubescent on the 2 keels, 3 to 3£ lines long; stamens 3, on slender fila- 

 ments. 



Plate LXII; a, spikelet; ft, empty glumes; c, floral glume, dorsal view; d, palet 

 with margins infolded. 



California to Oregon, in the mountains, It would probably be valuable in culti- 

 vation on the higher mesas. 



