No. 75. 

 POA CONFINIS Vasey sp. nov. 



Plant perennial, csespitose or tufted, with numerous sterile shoots from a creeping 

 rootstock. 



Culms erect, or slightly decumbent at the base, smooth, slender, leafy to the 

 middle or the shorter ones leafy to the panicle, 4 to 12 inches tall. 



Leaves of sterile shoots numerous, with smooth, striate, scarioiis-margined sheaths 

 and slender, involute blades 3 to 6 inches long or as long as the culms: leaves of culm 

 2 or 3; sheaths open above, shorter than the internodes; blades involute, apiculate, 1 

 to 2 inches long; ligule 1 line long or less or nearly obsolete. 



Inflorescence a rather closely flowered, oblong panicle 1 to 2 inches long; rays in 

 twos and threes or solitary at the 3 to 6 nodes, unequal, 1 inch long or less, scabrous, 

 divided, spikelet bearing near the extremities. 



Spikelets slightly compressed, 2 to 3 lines long, 3- to 6-flowered with a rudiment; 

 empty glumes broadly ovate, acute, 1 -nerved or obscurely 3-nerved, nearly smooth, 1 

 to 1£ lines long, the second slightly longer, but neither equaling the lower florets; 

 floral glume broadly ovate, acute, somewhat carinate, slightly rmbescent or scabrid 

 in age, rather thick for the genus, not webbed, 5-nerved, about 1 J lines long; palet 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse, arched, twisted when dry, pubescent on the keels; stamens 

 3, with exserted anthers on very slender filaments; ovary smooth, pear-shaped, with 

 2 short, feathery stigmas; lodic'ules £ line long; grain ovate, furrowed, rough, yellow, 

 1 line long. 



Plate LXXV; a, spikelet; b, floret with the glume and palet spread to show 

 the ripened grain ; c, floret with stamens exserted. 



Oregon to Alaska, mostly on the sandy seashore. This species is imperfectly 

 dioecious. Those plants which ripen grain have only abortive stamens, while those 

 with perfect anthers have only abortive pistils. Dr. Thurber in Wats. Bot. Ca.l. ii. 

 312 (1880) referred this species to P. abbreviata E. Br., a much smaller Arctic species. 



